The Bay of Plenty Steamers have five days to rebuild their confidence and prepare for a Ranfurly Shield challenge, after being soundly beaten by reigning ITM Cup champions Taranaki, 32-9.
The Steamers were chasing their fourth win of the season at the Rotorua International Stadium on Saturday but could not keep up with Taranaki, who turned on a fine second-half performance.
The Steamers now need to re-group ahead of another tough assignment on Saturday against Hawke's Bay, which doubles as a Ranfurly Shield challenge.
Bay coach Clayton McMillan said his side had chances to score at the weekend but were not as clinical as they needed to be against a top side like Taranaki.
"I know our guys will just be disappointed because we had an opportunity there and had them under a little bit of pressure, but just weren't able to sustain that for a long enough period of time to put points on the board.