(Reuters) -Coach Stephen Larkham did not believe his ACT Brumbies side went into Saturday's Super Rugby Pacific clash with the Waikato Chiefs in a negative frame of mind despite the team's dismal semi-final track record.
The Brumbies crashed out in the semi-finals for the fourth season in a row as Larkham's side lost 37-17 to the Chiefs, who set up an all-New Zealand final against the Canterbury Crusaders in Christchurch next week.
"Psychologically, I thought we were in a good place, I thought our preparation was really good to build into this game from the other games that we've played," said Larkham.
"I don't know if that was a factor. We certainly have spoken a lot to make sure that that doesn't come into it.
"It's hard to play away from home, whether it's in Australia or New Zealand. There is an advantage to the home side and I thought they played really well."
Larkham has been at the helm for three of the Brumbies' four semi-final losses, having also overseen a defeat at the hands of the Chiefs in 2023 ahead of last year's reversal against the Auckland Blues.
Those defeats prompted the former Wallaby to launch reviews into his team's operations and Larkham vowed to go through a similar process when the current season concludes after his side's clash with the British and Irish Lions next month.
"We'll go through the process of identifying, particularly in these last two games, what wasn't robust, what isn't good enough yet and spend enough time in the off-season to put us in a better position," he said.
"The British and Irish Lions game for us is around the corner. We'll have a short prep going into that. We'll run the same program that we've been running into this game, we'll just see if we can do it better."
(Reporting by Michael Church, Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
