With dried blood on his forearm, the centre bore the scars of battle but said there had been little more his team mates could have done in going down 33-10.
"The game was very hard... we performed on a par with them for 60 minutes, and in those 60 minutes we managed to control them but they kept coming at us -- and that is the difference in the quality between the teams," the shaven-headed 34-year-old told reporters.
"Right now it is hard to say (if there is anything else we could have done)... a penalty here, a penalty there... but we were okay for 60 minutes and we will continue to grow.
"We were coming here to grow as a team. We had highs and lows in the tournament and right now, after a game, it is hard to make an assessment. But I think this young team has a great future."
Regardless of the result, Contepomi said all his team mates could be proud of their performances.
"I think that I can go into the dressing room and look everyone in the eyes," he said.
"Obviously, we are not happy losing by 20 points or so but as the coach said, I am proud of this team.
"It has been a tough preparation. We had highs and lows but I think it has been a very good tournament for us. We all worked together and we all worked well.
"They (New Zealand) are very strong on the contact area, and then they play a very simple game but what they do, they do very well -- rugby is like that. They do very simple things but they do them so well."