Cook admitted the 40-24 loss was ‘not acceptable’, as the Blues shipped five tries in Italy last Friday. The result saw the Blues slip behind the Newport Gwent Dragons into 10th place in the Guinness PRO12. But Cook has vowed to put in the graft ahead of their home test against Edinburgh on Sunday.
He said: “That performance is simply not acceptable as players. We have a responsibility as players to front up and we didn’t. It’s nothing but our fault. We didn’t perform, especially in the first half, and we are all hugely disappointed.
“You can’t put in a first half performance like that and expect to win games. We have got to pick our heads up, work harder and next week we have definitely got to put it right.”
Mark Hammett’s side will have to close a 15-point gap if they are to qualify for next season’s European Rugby Champions Cup. And Cook knows their defence will have to improve if they are to revive their slim hopes of a top six place.
He said: “We’ve worked hard on defence all week, trained well and were vocal. But we switched off first half and let them score four tries. Once they had built up a lead like that it is hard to get back in the game. We tried our best in the second half but had too much to do.
“We desperately need a result next week and all the boys know that. That performance is just not good enough. We threw everything we had at them in the second half but it was too little too late.”
