It was like the Highlanders of a year or two ago. Inaccuracies, handling mistakes, brain explosions and, of course, a loss.
The Highlanders put on their worst performance of the season in Hamilton on Saturday night, beaten 20-7 by a Chiefs side still struggling to find its best game.
Highlanders coach Jamie Joseph said his side simply did not play well enough to win.
"We did not create enough pressure, there were too many handling mistakes and we just couldn't get any continuity into our game," he said.
"They [Chiefs] just looked a lot more hungrier and urgent than us and that was disappointing. They seemed to want the game more than us.
"I thought we were reasonably competitive in the breakdown and knocked them over there. And we started OK, but perhaps that didn't help us in the end, as we thought it would be easier than it was."
The Highlanders did indeed start well and had a try on the board after 10 minutes.
They hit the ball up the middle and when the ball was switched to the left, first five-eight Lima Sopoaga broke the line and then threw a big pass to hooker Jason Rutledge, who cantered over to score.
Robbie Robinson added the conversion but that was his only kicking success of the night, as the goalkicking woes continued to haunt the franchise.
Joseph said goalkicking inaccuracy had hurt the side all season and the side just had to put faith in its young goalkickers. Robinson, who had a forgettable match, missed two easy penalty kicks in the first half.
The game was not pretty to watch as both teams struggled with continuity and handling.
The Chiefs were lucky to be behind by just one point at halftime but came out firing in the second half, quickly going in front through a Brendon Leonard try.
The Highlanders pressed forward about 10 minutes in the second half but turned the ball over right near the line.
Prop Chris King had been hauled off after 30 minutes to be replaced by Bronson Murray, with Joseph saying they wanted more mobility. Rutledge and lock Josh Bekhuis then went off at halftime, as the Highlanders looked to speed up the game.
With injuries the Highlanders bench resembled Grand Central Station at times.
Any chance of putting pressure on the Chiefs in the dying stages was destroyed with sloppy handling.
The Chiefs scored right at the end to deny the visitors a bonus point, but based on this display any talk of a late Chiefs surge up the table seems extremely premature.
Sopoaga was among the best of the Highlanders, along with Ben Smith.
Jarrad Hoeata tried hard up front for the Highlanders but it was that sort of game where no-one enhanced their reputations.
The Blues are now top of the table after a narrow 17-11 win over the Hurricanes in Wellington to start the round. They face the second-placed Reds in Brisbane on Friday night. The Reds beat the Rebels 33-18 in Melbourne on Friday night.
The Crusaders moved ahead of the Stormers after the two sides clashed in Cape Town, with the visitors winning 20-14.
The Waratahs moved into the top six, grinding out a 20-15 win over the Force in Sydney, as did the Sharks, which beat the Brumbies 34-16 in Durban.
The Cheetahs kept the Lions bottom of the table with a big 53-19 win in Johannesburg.
THE SCORES
• Chiefs 20
Brendon Leonard, Liam Messam tries; Stephen Donald con, 2 pen, Tim Nanai-Williams con
• Highlanders 7
Jason Rutledge try; Robbie Robinson con
• Halftime: Highlanders 7-6
