Highlanders captain Jimmy Cowan says his players need to have a good look at themselves and the side was looking a bit lost on attack.
It was another close one for the Highlanders on Saturday night in Invercargill, but it could not put the Chiefs to bed, losing 14-10 after the game was locked up 7-7 at half-time.
Cowan said the side had trained well and had wanted to put on a good performance in front of the Invercargill crowd but it just did not happen.
"I just thought, for whatever reason, we were just not quite there tonight.
We had trained well all week and we wanted to win down here for the crowd," Cowan said.
He could say the same thing week after week, but the side was simply not building phases and on Saturday night became drawn into playing a turnover-based game, which the Chiefs enjoyed.
"We are looking a bit lost on attack. Too many 50-50 balls and guys getting through that first line and then trying to look for a pass. Instead they should be just sucking the ball in and setting up another phase.
"We're just not putting any phases together. Guys need to take a look at themselves. We had a game plan going into the game but we didn't execute it."
Highlanders coach Glenn Moore said the side made too many errors at critical times, did not play territory well enough and forced things at times.
Moore felt his side did not show enough composure in the second half and there were two or three critical misses on one-on-one tackles.
He agreed the try from Masaga was the one piece of brilliance that decided the game.
He rejected suggestions the Highlanders had an inability to nail close games.
"It just comes down to individual errors. When we had them under pressure we would turn the ball over and let them away with it," Moore said.
The Chiefs had players who could turn a game with a piece of brilliance and it was vital to shut down those players, he said.
Chiefs coach Ian Foster agreed it was a typical arm-wrestle and he expected nothing less when playing the Highlanders in Invercargill.
When the Highlanders were put under pressure by his side putting a few phases together then the game opened up a bit, Foster said.
"But we did not do it often enough and, frankly, it was not a good performance from us," he said.
Foster said the breakdown was very competitive, as usual, and this made for a tight match.
The winning try came from stringing phases together, and was not just a piece of individual brilliance, he said.
Foster was proud of the spirit of his pack and the ability to keep out the home side in the last five minutes.
"Probably for about 10 to 15 minutes in total we looked good, but the rest was a total arm-wrestle."
