KEY POINTS:
It's probably a good job new Auckland coach Shane Howarth is a cup-half-full kind of guy.
Howarth takes the reins from Pat Lam today with the defending champions languishing in 11th spot on the Air New Zealand Cup ladder.
Saturday night's 34-13 walloping by previously winless Waikato saw
Auckland slump to a 2-3 record.
Their anaemic attack has posted just 69 points in five matches - the second-worst in the competition.
It's a far cry from a year ago when an Auckland side so stacked with talent that even the bench bristled with All Blacks imperiously swept aside the competition en route to the title.
Howarth could be forgiven for wondering just what he's got himself into in accepting the coaching job on a caretaker basis until the end of the season. Instead, he is viewing it as a chance to make an impact.
And, boy, do Auckland need that impact. On Saturday night they were totally outgunned by the desperate Mooloo men, slumping to their third heavy road defeat in succession.
The result leaves Howarth pondering an age-old conundrum for Ranfurly Shield holders: how to get his side to play with the same passion when the ol' Log ain't on the line.
"We are a bit of an enigma at the moment, very good at home and very poor away," Howarth said. "Trying to figure out why is the big thing. We knew that Waikato were desperate and in trouble but we also knew that Canterbury would be hungry and Counties the same. It just seems to be that at the moment we get out-passioned away from Eden Park. That is something we really have to fix.
"The Shield probably is a pain in the bum for us at the moment. The guys really get up for the Shield but we are trying to teach the younger boys that it is not just the home games that are important. It is about being able to front up week after week."
Fixing Auckland's travelling blues, though, will have to wait. Howarth's first job is on Saturday against a fifth-placed Southland side, with a genuine chance to lift the Shield.
Auckland were thrashed at the breakdown with Waikato four tries-to-two victors on Saturday, Lam's men conceding a staggering 41 turnovers.
That inability to hold on to the ball goes a long way to explaining their impotence in attack and fixing it will be Howarth's first priority.
"You are not going to win a game of rugby with 41 turnovers. So that will be a huge focus for us this week. Because the team that is coming up to challenge for the Shield [Southland] is renowned for that kind of play.
"If we are half as bad as we were on Saturday, the Shield will go south."
It if does, Auckland's playoff hopes may well go with it. Such a scenario may well have appeared unthinkable just a few weeks ago but, with competition frontrunners Bay of Plenty and Wellington and an improving North Harbour side on the horizon, Howarth knows he will have his work cut out just getting into the top eight.
"We don't like setting goals but when you have got the blue and white on, making the finals is what you need to do, so that is our goal.
"But right now we have to strip it back and go game by game and get it right."
With Auckland's playing depth looking more and more overstretched by the overseas exodus of recent years, Howarth could have been forgiven for thinking his first shot as a head coach was a bit of a poisoned chalice.
But he wasn't having a bar of that.
"I am excited. It is a challenge but it was always going to be a challenging year. They are fixable problems. If they weren't we'd be in a lot of strife."
Even if they do repel the Stags on Saturday, Auckland's chances of retaining the Shield for much longer appear slim. Wellington, who thrashed previously unbeaten Bay of Plenty 48-12 on Saturday to maintain their perfect record, will be huge favourites to break the capital's 27-year Shield hoodoo this month.
Wellington were hardly hindered by the absence of first choice first five-eighths Daniel Kirkpatrick and outstanding lock Jeremy Thrush as they made short work of Bay of Plenty.
The resources of Auckland and Waikato may appear parlous but the same can't be said of Wellington, who have a whole host of players already queuing up for boarding passes for the end of year All Blacks tour.
Thrush should be at the front of the queue, closely followed by blockbusting wing Hosea Gear, who notched his second hat-trick of the tournament against the Steamers.
The undeniable talent of former sevens star Victor Vito may also soon become impossible to ignore.
Elsewhere, Harbour continued their climb up the table with an entertaining 20-17 victory at Manawatu, while Southland, Taranaki and Hawkes Bay also posted comfortable wins.
* Canterbury went to second on the table with a 44-15 win over Tasman in Christchurch yesterday.
