NSW Waratahs coach Rob Penney has given a testy post-match interview before telling reporters that he wasn't sure whether he was still the right man to lead the 0-3 club, following the 20-16 Super Rugby AU loss to the Western Force on Friday night.
"I don't know. You'll answer that for us," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Penney as saying when asked if the performance showed he should still be coach.
It was the Force's first Super Rugby win since re-entering the competition last year and is only the second time in NSW's proud history that they have started the competition 0-3.
Following back-to-back record losses to the Queensland Reds and Brumbies, a painfully inexperienced Waratahs side at least rolled up their sleeves against a more limited opponent at Sydney's Bankwest Stadium.
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But the result was the same and the strain showed on the face of New Zealander Penney as he fronted up to Stan Sport's Roz Kelly after the match.
The interview got testy when Kelly asked Penney: "What's it going to take to turn things around?"
"Well, you've just seen a team that's competed tonight, that's a good start isn't it?" Penney responded.
"Are you happy with that?" Kelly inquired.
"Yeah absolutely," Penney replied.
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"Is that enough, just to show the fight, or do you want more from them?" Kelly asked.
"Well every team is trying to win every week, it's a pretty robust competition and I think if you reflect on the question, of course we would love to win but it wasn't to be tonight," Penney said.
"I don't know what answer you want from me but that's the reality of it this evening. We'll keep fighting."
Kelly then asked whether next weekend's bye came at a good or bad time for the Tahs.
"It is where it is, we knew where it was months ago so that's irrelevant really," Penney said to end the testy exchange.
Former Wallabies Morgan Turinui and Tim Horan agreed on Stan Sport's coverage that Penney's pain was a positive.
"He's hurting," Turinui said.
"The players are hurting and the coach is certainly hurting as well.
"He's fronting up to the media, to us, to give us an insight, straight after a really heartbreaking loss where his team stepped up for him. They just weren't smart enough, efficient enough, to close it down for him.
"He's hurting - he's half disappointed, half proud of his team and he's probably not sure where his emotions lie quite yet... I like to see that because I was one of those players that just hated losing.
"So what I don't want to see now is guys smiling. It needs to hurt."
Two-time Rugby World Cup-winner Horan also had his say.
"Emotions are quite high after games and it's great to see coaches like that because it means something to them," Horan said.
"It means he cares about his players as well. I can't fault the effort of the Waratahs tonight. I thought they were really good - much better than last week.
"It hurts. It's going to sting and it has to sting and it has to sting badly.
"You have to be embarrassed to walk down the street but then you've got to get up on Monday morning, hold your head high and try and back up next week."
Turinui, a former assistant coach of the Melbourne Rebels, said the Waratahs' problems were far more complex than just pointing the finger at Penney.
"Pressure will build because that's the nature of the beast," Turinui said.
"There's two different questions for the Waratahs board and organisation.
"This is where our list is, why is it here, how can we make it better, is it pick and stick and stability for the future?
"And an almost separate question at the moment - is Rob Penney the right person to lead us through this period. And those will be ongoing discussions at board level all the time.
"A new CEO, there will be turnover at board level as well when these sorts of things happen - it's that time of year for AGMs and the like.
"That's part of the game. The picture will become clearer as we go along.
"The pressure will continue on the team and the coach. What NSW fans can say is that they saw improvement, they saw a team that were in the fight."
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