Highlanders coach Jamie Joseph says his side is still well alive in this year's competition, but felt some missed tackles cost it in the loss in Wellington last night.
The Highlanders went down 27-20 to the Hurricanes in the capital and, with the defeat, drop down to seventh on the ladder.
Joseph said the Hurricanes probably played better in the wet conditions.
"It was a really tight game and there wasn't much in the game at all. But they just handled things a bit better and put us under a lot of pressure,'' he said.
"Their line speed was really good, and they attacked us hard, though I'd have to look at where they were coming from.''
He said some of the tackling was not good enough from his players.
"That was a big cost for us in the game. We had guys who were diving in and were being beaten too easily. That is disappointing, as that has been a real strength of ours in recent weeks.''
He said first five-eighth Lima Sopoaga was taken off with more than 20 minutes to go to change things up.
With three rounds to go, Joseph felt the side was still well in the competition and there was a lot of football left to play.
The Highlanders will now break up for two weeks as the mid-year international season takes over.
The side will come back together on June 12 and will start training that week.
It will play the Crusaders in a practice match in Oamaru on June 23 but will not have any All Blacks for the match.
It will then travel to South Africa to play the Kings on July 3 in Port Elizabeth, and then journey to Argentina to face the Jaguares in Buenos Aires on July 10.
The Highlanders' final regular season game is against the Chiefs, in Dunedin on July 16.