The lack of first-time tackles hurt Tauranga in the early stages and they had no answer to the size and athleticism of the Grammar players, particularly the outstanding loose forward trio.
Tauranga struggled to find an exit plan out of their own 22 throughout the match and will quickly have to adapt to the extra size and speed of the better teams coming up in the Chiefs Cup and then the Super Eight in June.
Respecting the ball and holding possession for multiple phases will be high priorities for coaches Jason Spice and Graeme Newlands at training this week.
"We have three backs and three forwards returning this year," Newlands said. "So some guys have had a taste of it but it was our first game of the season. We have only had three or four trainings.
"We are a bit behind the 8-ball but we didn't expect to be that far behind especially on defence. They were pretty good in the wet conditions but we didn't help ourselves with some of our defence. When a guy runs through three players and makes that many meters it is always going to be hard.
"Plus we didn't have the ball to play with most of the time.
"We turned it over either with mistakes through set piece or we weren't good enough at ruck time to hold onto it."
Tauranga Boys' College 0 Auckland Grammar 49. Halftime: 34-0
