Otago made too many errors at crucial times in its loss to Counties-Manukau in Pukekohe on Saturday, and failed to make the most of the opportunities which came along against a misfiring home team.
Otago made the running early but then went off the boil in for the middle 40 minutes of the game.
Staring down the barrel of defeat, Otago scored two tries in the final minutes, had the ball at the end and was threatening.
But it made a mistake, coughed the ball up and the challenge was lost.
Otago found the going tough against a big and physical Counties-Manukau side but ball security was poor from both sides, and continuity suffered.
Hooker Liam Coltman said it was a gutsy effort from Otago but little errors were in the end costly.
''The boys showed some real good ticker to come back in the last few minutes. We started off really well but just could not keep it up,'' Coltman said.
''We just made too many errors. I was guilty of a couple of them myself.
"It hurts the team and we just had to keep fighting and fighting.
''We never gave up, which was something to be proud of.''
Coltman scored the first try of the game, to give Otago a 7-0 lead after just seven minutes.
The Otago backs moved the ball down the left and when they ran out of room, the ball went the other way.
Centre Michael Collins was hauled down just short and Coltman got the ball from a resulting ruck and barged over.
Coltman said the try was a boost but the side overall failed to get its continuity going.
''We just couldn't gel that well in the second half. We just made too many little errors and that just meant we could not get any continuity into our game.''
Counties replied to Coltman's try with a similar effort to blindside flanker Dan Hyatt.
Otago halfback Josh Renton then knocked the ball on in the art of scoring a try and that was a big momentum shifter.
The home side came back to go ahead 14-10 at the break, when Coltman overthrew a lineout and after a couple of barges at the line, lock Ronald Raaymakers scored.
The second half rather meandered along and errors were thick on the ground.
Balls were dropped, penalties handed out and when an attempted grubber kick from Parker was charged down, leading to replacement back Michael Stanley scoring, the shield holder looked all but home at 26-13 up.
Otago, though, dug deep and a nice move in the middle of the park had prop Aki Seiuli under the posts.
Then winger Fa'asiu Fuatai made a nice run down the line, fending off his man and Otago was back in with a chance.
Parker missed the conversion and Otago got back into the home side's half but some indecision at the back of the maul cost Otago any hope.
Best for Otago was lock Tom Franklin. Coltman worked hard while Tei Walden and Fuatai did well in the backline.
Otago v Counties-Man
The scores
Counties-Manukau 29
Dan Hyatt, Ronald Raaymakers, Jordan Taufua, Michael Stanley tries; Ashee Tuala 3 con, Stanley pen
Otago 25
Liam Coltman, Aki Seiuli, Fa'asiu Fuatai tries; Hayden Parker 2 con, 2 pen
Halftime: Counties-Manukau 14-10.
Crowd: About 10,000.
