Otago skipper Charlie O'Connell says his side's character will be tested on how it bounces back from last night's disappointing 40-23 defeat to Northland.
Otago put on its worst performance of the season by some distance, lacking the fundamentals in all departments as a hungrier and tougher Northland side grabbed its first away win of the season.
As far as a dress rehearsal for Otago's Ranfurly Shield challenge against Hawkes Bay in Napier on Sunday goes, last night's match was nothing short of an absolute clanger.
O'Connell said Otago knew Northland would come out and play and throw the kitchen sink at his side''It was very disappointing for us, both defensively - falling off too many tackles - and then making too many mistakes on attack,'' O'Connell said.
''It was just a culmination of things really, and all those things add up and that is a reflection in the scoreboard.''
O'Connell said the attitude was right from the team going into the game but it was just a ''hard night at the office''.
The captain said the Southerners had to quickly move on and focus on the shield game.
''It is important just to flush this game and the character of this side will be how we bounce back from this. We have to get up. It is a shield game on Sunday, a massive game for us, a massive game for the province so we will have to front up.''
Assistant coach Phil Young said Otago suffered from a lack of energy.
''We just couldn't play our game . . . the boys just seemed to be really flat,'' Young said.
''We made some poor decisions and consequently we could not get anything going ... we've just got to take some learnings from this game and then move on to Hawkes Bay.''
Otago was beaten up at the breakdown, with big Northland loose forwards Jack Ram and Dan Pryor having a field day.
The home side led 20-15 at the break but never fired a shot in the second half and it had few try-scoring chances.
It could not score a point when Northland first five-eighth Dan Hawkins was yellow carded for a dangerous tackle on Otago winger Fa'asiu Fuatai in the second half.
Northland prop Ross Wright scored midway through the second half and further tries to Ram - his second - and hooker Matt Moulds in the final 10 minutes confirmed the Northland victory.
The Otago backs struggled to find any gaps and its forwards failed to get to the advantage line often enough. The ball security was average from the home side and it fell off too many tackles.
Otago made the worst possible start, a sign of things to come.
A bad read in defence saw Pryor skip clear after less than 30 seconds. Northland ended up right on the Otago tryline and big prop Namatahi Waa barged over.
Shell-shocked by conceding the early try, Otago regained some composure and Hayden Parker banged over a penalty.
On the 20 minute mark, Otago managed to grab a lineout 10m from the Northland line.
Hooker Liam Coltman broke from the resulting maul and when he went to ground, a quick pass to Tom Franklin saw the big lock over for Otago's first try.
Straight from the kick-off, Northland gained a penalty, kicked to the corner and drove a lineout to score to go back in front.
Eight minutes before halftime and Parker looked to have turned the game with some individual brilliance.
The first five-eighth chip kicked the ball through from his own half, then kicked it on and won the race to score a great try.
That gave his side the lead and it looked to have swung the match, but no-one told the visiting team.
