Southland rugby is in a deep hole with few tools to climb out of it, as the Stags again lick their wounds following another decent-sized loss.
Southland’s recent record is now four wins from the past 35 games at Mitre 10 Cup level.
Week by week, more and more concern surfaces around just what can be done to ensure Southland can at the very least be a competitive provincial union in the future. Southland has lost all five games of its 2018 campaign by 17 points or more.
The latest loss was the 43-24 defeat at the hands of Southland’s most historic rivals, Otago, at Rugby Park in Invercargill on Saturday.
Hewett, who took on the Southland coaching job this year, fronted post-game and was again forced to roll out a similar assessment of his team’s performance.
It included patches which he was impressed with, but periods where it all fell apart.
Against Otago, it was a six-minute lapse from the 15th minute through to the 21st minute where Otago was able to score three tries to go up 19-0.
While the Stags worked hard in defence for long periods, the Otago midfield pairing of Matt Faddes and Sio Tomkinson caused headaches for Southland.
"I think the system was there but people just fell off tackles. Tayler [Adams] missed a sitter of a tackle which led to a Matt Faddes try," Hewett said.
"It’s those sort of things you can’t do. You’ve got to make your tackles. If you can’t make your tackles, we’re in trouble."
Hewett learned his coaching craft as an assistant with Canterbury and the Crusaders, two of New Zealand’s most successful sporting organisations.
In terms of Southland, many of the players he was now working with were starting from scratch. Hewett acknowledged there was a lot of work to do.
"It’s a hell of a different challenge. You are working with different athletes for a start.
"I was fortunate enough to have guys who were long-time Super [players] or even in the All Black frame. Here [in Southland] guys are aspiring to that and there are those skill sets which need to be developed.
"Coaching is a large part of it, you get a limited amount of time during the week, but we have to coach the basics. Catch and pass is part of it, making sure we chop tackle, or making sure we carry the ball right.
"A lot of that is habitual through club rugby. We’ve got to actually break habits, long-standing habits, which are formed elsewhere, in a short time frame.
"You can get away with one-handed passes at club level — in most cases, you don’t get away with that at Mitre 10."
Southland has a short turnaround now to prepare for Thursday night’s game against Northland in Whangarei.
The Stags’ depth was likely to be tested further this week. Flanker Phil Halder was forced from the field against Otago with a knee injury and, with Wade McRae already sidelined through concussion issues, Hewett may find himself scrambling to sort his loose forward stocks.
"This competition tests the depth of every squad, no more so than us. Depth is an issue for us in a lot of positions."
The good news is flanker Tony Lamborn had his best game in the Stags jersey this season.
"I thought he played really well... good line speed and intensity that’s needed and verbally led as well."
- Logan Savory