That was the sound of some of the air escaping the Otago effort tonight.
The home side produced a flat performance in a 28-5 loss to a quality Wellington outfit at Forsyth Barr Stadium.
The defending champions dominated possession and territory and made Otago make almost twice as many tackles in the opening half.
That zapped the energy levels and the Golden O faded to a shade of plain old yellow.
The visitors made an absolutely positively Wellington start. They strung 15 phases together to mount some pressure.
Otago prop Saula Ma'u made a bone-jarring tackle to help take some sting out of the Lions' attack.
Sam Gilbert snaffled a turnover to relieve some more heat.
Wellington fullback Ruben Love made a dangerous run from the back, but Otago was able to wriggle out of trouble again.
But eventually the brilliant defence gave way to the weight of possession. Lions hooker James O'Reilly dashed down the right wing and got a terrific skip pass back inside to Peter Lakai to score.
Otago's best moment in the half came when Jona Nareki gathered a chip kick from Finn Hurley and set Thomas Umaga-Jensen free down the left wing.
The big midfielder did not have the gas to get to the corner and the chance was lost.
His twin brother Peter almost created a try down the other end moments later. Wellington stole a lineout and Peter steamed on to the ball, got a pass to winger Losi Filipo, who muscled over from 5m out.
But he knocked it on while trying to ground the ball.
Morgan landed a late penalty to give Wellington a 13-0 lead at the break
Otago had made 114 tackles to Wellington's 60 and only had a 39% share of the ball.
Wellington had built a platform and flourished.
Brad Shields powered through three defenders from close to the line to score.
Du'Plessis Kirifi tucked into the boot of a lineout drive and flopped over for another.
He got a pass to Will Tucker who slapped it on to Harry Taylor, who found himself out in the open.
He got shut down but Otago was able to convert the position into points.
Replacement fullback Jack Leslie ran a nice line and went over from a 5m scrum.
That gave Otago a second wind but they could not convert some late opportunities into any more points.
The scores
Wellington 28
Peter Lakai, Brad Shields, Du'Plessis Kirifi tries; Aidan Morgan 2 con, 3 pen
Otago 5
Jack Leslie try
Halftime: 13-0
