Western Force coach Simon Cron found some positives in the 42-32 loss in Round 2 of Swyftx Super Rugby Pacific at HIF Health Insurance Oval, Arena Joondalup on Saturday.
But while he was pleased with some improvements on the first round display, Cron said there were still areas that need to be fixed as they prepare for a three-game road trip against Moana Pasifika, the Highlanders and Hurricanes.
Cron, who will take an extended squad on tour, said: "We are excited. The boys are ready to go. It can be quite good to spend more time together.
"They are a tight knit group and you can see in the sheds that they are really serious about fixing those small things."
Cron said one of the positives to come out of Saturday's clash was breakdown work in the opposition 22 metres.
"I thought the boys did a great job when we entered their 22 and went to work," he said.
"Some of the things we worked on from last week, big improvements, which was important for us.
"There was some good ball movement, bodies at the line, people in motion and able to create space for each other.
"We'll take a lot out of the game but got to work on those fixes. We saw some improvements that needed to come out of last week. We need to put the icing on a lot of the things we are working on."
Among the "fixes" needed are improved discipline, including ruck penalties, with too many points coming from ill-discipline, not just defensive errors, Cron said.
He also wants to see more speed to the breakdown on a line break.
Cron said "free ball", handing over possession with penalties, knock ons, line-out errors and other areas, was costly.
"You can't give any team free ball," he said. "Too many times we gave them free ball and you end up defending for long blocks in your 22.
"You can only hold people out for so long. The free ball we gave them was not good enough."
Captain Jeremy Williams said the first 20 minutes was tough on the back of ill-discipline before the half became "tit-for-tat".
"For the most part, the middle block of the second half, we gained some ascendency but let it slip at the end," Williams said.
"They are fixable errors but there has to be some accountability to fix those things, we can't let those little moments slip in a game.
"It's costly. We are seeing some improvements. In the opposition 22 some of our carrying and blast cleaning was really good, we just have to be more accurate at line-out time and things like that to give our backs the ball."
The Force crossed for four tries from prop Harry Johnson-Holmes, openside flanker Carlo Tizzano, winger Bayley Kuenzle and fly-half Ben Donaldson.
Donaldson converted three and added two penalties.
The Blues scored six tries with No.10 Stephen Perofeta perfect from the tee.
The Force had taken a 17-14 half-time lead, only the third time in Super Rugby they have led the Blues at the break, but the result left them with just one win in 17 outings against the side from Auckland.
