But Latta, the Otago assistant coach, said what he learned after the infamous loss to Canterbury in 1994, he would be telling the side this week.
"Is is worse than 1994? Hard for me to say but it is different," Latta said after the 16-12 loss to Southland on Saturday.
"Coaching is a different game. I know those boys will be hurting. They will be in a similar situation to what I what I was.
"But we've just got to be strong together. Keep tight.
"Get through the heartbreak of this, then we have to refocus again. That is the big thing, getting that focus back.
"The adrenaline is so high for this game and the focus is high and then we do not get the result ... it is gutting. But you've got to get back up."
Latta said the players were naturally gutted after the loss, but it was a big improvement on the first-round loss to Counties-Manukau.
"But we have a big task again this week. It is a hard competition and you've got to keep fronting.
"We did some good things, stuck to the game plan and kept on with the game plan.
"We had some chances to breach them but they had a fantastic defence."
He praised his team's defence and accuracy at the breakdown.
He felt the two yellow cards handed out to Otago were tough, but it was the way the game went and there was no use crying over them.
Otago first five-eighth Glenn Dickson was yellow carded in the 12th minute of the game after he tackled Southland centre Kendrick Lynn on to his back.
Prop Sam Hibbard was yellow-carded with 15 minutes to go after he tackled Southland hooker Jason Rutledge from an offside position when the home side was attacking the line.
The key now was to get the right attitude for this week's game against Wellington, Latta said.
"What does not kill you makes you stronger and I've lived like that all my life.
"It hasn't killed us, so we can get back up and get into Wellington this week."
Otago coach Phil Mooney said he was proud of his side but to come away empty-handed on Saturday was extremely disappointing.
Although it was not sour grapes, and Southland deserved its win, he questioned why his side was given two yellow cards while Southland received none.
"Southland did very well and ground away and got the result. But we did very well and we had to play 20 minutes with 14 men.
"I've not had a lot of time to digest it all but both teams received a similar number of penalties yet we had two in the bin and they did not.
"But it was a tough game of rugby and was a big step up from last week.
"We are gutted we lost. But we did some good things and the guys played their hearts out.
"Hoani Matenga had a huge game, Peter Mirrielees, Kees [Meeuws] played another full 80 minutes.
"I thought Alando [Soakai] was outstanding in his 50th game.
"I'm extremely proud of the boys' efforts. To come away empty-handed is extremely disappointing.
"But everyone in the team should be proud of the effort."
Mooney said the side probably did not get enough ball in the second half but said Southland played extremely well and won some clutch moments.
Mooney said Otago could not afford to dwell on the result.
"This was a really special occasion. Southland put on a special event and it was great to be a part of it.
"But we need to take it for what it was ... and now we've got to focus on next week."
