The home side slumped to a 39-7 loss to North Harbour at Forsyth Barr Stadium on Saturday — its sixth consecutive loss — and coach Duncan McEwan was not thrilled with his side’s last act.
"To be honest, I think we let ourselves down," he said.
"Obviously, they were a lot bigger than us but we felt we had the superior skill base. We backed our ability to move the ball around but what actually happened was we didn’t stick to our structures ... and we dropped about 20 balls.
"That is the reality of it and it is just not good enough.
"We’ve been stepping up for the last three or four games but today our execution was poor. The result was the result that we deserved."
The home side actually made a bright start, dominating possession and territory.
The Spirit swung the ball wide and strung phase after phase together but could not penetrate North Harbour’s defence.
When North Harbour finally broke Otago’s monopoly of possession, it found itself backpedalling and struggling to clear the ball from a scrum.
Somehow the visitors managed to hook the ball and the backs came to the rescue, hitting the ball up in the middle of the field and starting a move that swept 90m.
Eventually, powerful winger Rina Paramore got the ball 40m out, bounced a couple of tackles and found halfback Stacey Martin, who in turn found fullback Briar McNamara, and she scampered away to score untouched.
North Harbour added a penalty to lead 10-0 before Otago was able to crack the defence. Centre Greer Muir gathered in a chip kick and scored near the posts.
Harbour responded with another long-range effort, which culminated with winger Florida Fatanitivake scoring in the corner.
Then industrious second five-eighth and co-captain Chelsea Alley brushed aside some ineffectual tackles to add another before halftime.
The Spirit had played plenty of rugby but trailed 20-7.
Harbour just had more pace out wide.
McEwan made two changes to the pack at the break, with lock Jess Kendall replacing Julia Gorinski and loose forward Rachel Ovens making way for Maddi Finch.
Prop Gemma Tuhega, in her 50th and last game for the province, was replaced 10 minutes into the second spell.
Shortly after Tuhega’s departure, Harbour scored a fourth try with some polished work in the backs.
Paramore was on the end of the chain and dotted down.
Harbour ran in two more tries to seal a comprehensive win.
Farah Palmer Cup
The scores
North Harbour 39
Briar McNamara, Florida Fatanitivake, Chelsea Alley, Rina Paramore, Charmaine Smith, Claudia McMeekin, tries; Alley 2 con, pen; McNamara con
Otago 7
Greer Muir try; Megan Manson con
Halftime: Harbour 20-7