Saturday presented the Magpies with an opportunity to entrench themselves in the New England Rugby Union top four on the back of a good run of form.

Instead, they met a Barbarians outfit – similarly gunning for a top four spot – who were simply too good, Tamworth coach Peter Burke said.

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The Magpies were down on troops – roughly five regular first graders were missing along with some second graders – but the coach said that wasn’t an excuse for the 42-14 loss.

“Taking that [players out] all into consideration, we still had a team I had confidence in and that should have performed better than it did,” Burke said.

“I put a lot of that down to how well the Baa Baas played.

“Their line speed was impressive, ball control was great and I thought their five eighth and fullback had very impressive games.

“They just outplayed us, there’s no other way to put it. They were by far the better side.”

With two rounds remaining, the Magpies will be watching on keenly next weekend.

Tamworth has the bye before taking on the Armidale Blues in the final round.

They not only need to win that game against the Blues but will also need results to fall their way.

”What that loss has done has taken our own destiny out of our hands,” Burke said.

“If the planets align next week, then we still have an opportunity when we come up against the Blues to make finals. Hopefully we’ll be back at full strength for that game.”