The players and coaching staff analysed a video of Saturday night's loss to Taranaki yesterday before training in atrocious conditions at Logan Park in the afternoon. "We're disappointed with the result, disappointed with how we faded in the last 20min, but it's only round two," Otago co-coach Greg Cooper said. "We've had a good debrief and we want to use the negatives to strengthen us for the next game."

The major positive from the 36-30 loss was that Otago suffered no significant injuries. Cooper conceded Otago was outplayed by "a very good Taranaki side" in the second half. "We did it clinically straight after half-time and scored a good forward try. That's the way we wanted to play it. "Unfortunately, after that, we were beaten to the break- down a couple of times - they were very hungry - and we started to make some mistakes in the backs. "It just went from bad to worse."

Cooper did not discount changes for Rotorua, but declined to be more specific. "We've got to prepare well for Bay of Plenty because, as we saw against Canterbury, they're a very useful side." Cooper said injured first five-eighth Tony Brown was still a week-by-week proposition. "He's striding out nicely, having some kicks. "I think he's still got a bit of tightness there but, hopefully, in a few weeks' time, we might have him available. "We want to get it right this time so that he doesn't have on-going problems."

Blair Feeney has deputised extremely capably and Otago has other, more pressing problems. Its forwards must display more grunt and intensity while its backs must show more composure under pressure.