NSW Waratahs coach Dan McKellar praised the "bucket loads" of fight his team showed in a narrow Super Rugby win over Fijian Drua, but blasted them for "nearly beating ourselves".
The Sydney side came through 29-24 at home on Friday evening to make it two wins from two to open the season, but they failed to deliver the killer blow after opening a 10-point lead early in the second half.
"The fighting effort that I spoke to you people about a couple of weeks ago was there, there in bucket loads," McKellar said.
"But we nearly beat ourselves, that's the disappointing part.
"I'm really pleased with getting four points and we sit here with two wins from two... really happy about that but, again, we'll use the review to make sure that we turn up in better shape next week.
"Speaking for the boys, they would have probably lost that game in the past so pleasing that we were grinding out and fighting our way to a win knowing we have enormous improvement ahead of us," he added.
The same battling trait helped them squeak past the Otago Highlanders 37-36 in round one.
No.8 Langi Gleeson was a standout against Drua, scoring two first-half tries, while fullback Andrew Kellaway's attacking intent kept the defence on high alert.
But the 'Tahs ultimately needed a 76th minute penalty try to secure the win despite building a 22-10 buffer against a side that remain winless after three games.
Despite their failure to put Drua to the sword, skipper Jake Gordon was content with how the season was unfolding after leading the Waratahs to the wooden spoon last year.
"We haven't been pretty, but I thought for the majority we've stuck to our game plan and we've done the stuff that the public probably won't see," said the Wallabies scrum-half.
"Against a really dangerous Drua team, I thought defensively we were pretty sharp for a long part of the game."