It was a big drop-off in performance after the heights of their 50-17 win against a good team atEllis Park, a return to the inconsistencies of days gone by which coach Chris Boyd must have thought were well behind them.
"We're massively disappointed. We wanted to win the game and we wanted to play well and we didn't do either," Boyd said.
The Kings Park defeat could have been worse but for the fact fullback James Marshall scored a converted try in the final minutes to add a veneer of respectability to the scoreline and deny the home side a bonus point.
They now return to play the struggling Reds in Wellington but beyond that have a tough run-in, including matches against the Highlanders, Blues and Crusaders. A few more slip-ups and their dream of going one better than last year when they were beaten finalists will be in serious jeopardy.
They were second best in the contact areas, and, worryingly, at scrum time after dominating that area against the Lions and before that the Chiefs. They also lost four lineouts.
"When we got into that contact area they certainly dominated that and we struggled to get go-forward ball," said Boyd.
"We knew what we were going to get and what we got was exactly what we thought we'd get and we didn't cope with it well enough.
"We've had some good patches and we've had some average performances and in this particular [playing] group we need to get a level of consistency that we have been searching for," he said.
The loss will bring back memories of the Hurricanes' opening night defeat to the Brumbies in Canberra, a 52-10 thumping which appeared to be an anomoly until this latest result.
The one highlight might have been the performance of flanker Ardie Savea, who led the way with a game-high 16 tackles and two turnovers.
