Two games, two losses.
For what it's worth, they are only pre-season matches and one shouldn't read too much into them.
Needless to say, there'll be some unhappy blokes when Hawke's Bay Magpies coach Craig Philpott and his assistant, Danny Lee, separate the men from the boys who will begin their 2012 ITM Cup campaign on Thursday, August 23, against Auckland at McLean Park, Napier.
No doubt the 29-12 pre-season loss to the Bay of Plenty Steamers at Whakatane yesterday would have effectively helped Philpott and Lee iron out any creases before the culling ritual.
It didn't help that some of the aspirants "made schoolboy-type errors that cost us three tries", according to Philpott's post-mortem examination.
Failing to find the touch from a penalty that saw BOP launch a counterattack to score a try and a missed tackle were two that came across clearly during the Philpott phone interview on the bus ride back home on the highway.
"Our Super Rugby players are coming back so that'll allow the players to take some direction from them."
A swag of Chiefs players, such as Andrew Horrell, Ben Tameifuna, Hika Elliot and Tino Nemani, will be returning from their Super Rugby title-winning campaign last weekend.
Crusaders winger Zac Guildford and utility back Israel Dagg, no doubt, will contribute to that much-needed impetus as well as provide guidance for those still a little wet around the ears despite stirling performance at the premier club level.
Philpott said there were obvious expectations from the All Blacks-calibre players such as Dagg, Guildford, Elliot and Tameifuna.
Despite the exodus of a wealth of experience from the likes of Sona Taumalolo, Bryn Evans, Brodie Retallick and Kahn Fotuali'i, the Magpies are not taking a mind set of making up the numbers this winter.
"We have enough experience and exciting young talent who want to learn to try to win," Philpott said.
The Magpies, under former co-coaches Peter Russell and Tom Coventry and former captain Lee, did bring some flutter to the army of loyal black-and-white brigade supporters.
After semifinal exits to Canterbury in the Air New Zealand Cup encounters in 2008 and 2009, the Magpies finished eighth in the National Provincial Championship competition the following year to find themselves relegated to the second-tier ITM Cup Championship, although they did play a few cross-over games in the season against the top-tier Premiership contenders.
Having finished runners-up in the cup championship after the pool matches last season, the Magpies went on to beat the top-qualifying Manawatu Turbos in the final in Palmerston North to regain their perch this season in the cup premiership.
Philpott said the pre-season matches to date had provided ample opportunities for every player to leave an indelible impression of their ability.
Apart from Pete Borlase, who has a suspected broken ankle after yesterday's game, he expected even "ageing" Canes flanker Karl Lowe to be fit for the opening game.