The Sydney Roosters will look back at Round 9 as a missed opportunity, with both coach and captain believing they shot themselves in the foot with poor attacking execution in the 14-13 loss to the Warriors.
After trailing 12-4 at the break, and battling through the five minutes either side of half-time with only 12 men following Daniel Tupou's trip to the sin bin for a professional foul, the Tricolours dominated possession and scoring chances in the second 40 but had only one try to show for it.
An inability to break down the Warriors' goal-line defence meant Trent Robinson's side instead opted to take a penalty goal and field goal, before going down via a last-minute penalty to Shaun Johnson at Mount Smart Stadium.
"I thought we won the battle but [the Warriors] defended their goal line really well," Robinson said.
"We worked our second half really well, we fought hard to get physical dominance and we got that and then we just couldn't finish it off.
"The only try we did get was an intercept try in the second half.
"Effort great, missed opportunities not so good."
While co-captain Boyd Cordner was one of the Roosters' best on a greasy night in Auckland, powering through for 186 metres and making 38 tackles, he was also involved in two botched scoring plays.
The Kangaroos back-rower fumbled a pinpoint Mitchell Pearce grubber over the line on 11 minutes, before choosing the wrong option early in the second half after he broke free and created a three-on-one, which ultimately resulted in Roger Tuivasa-Sheck pulling off a miraculous try-saving tackle a metre from the line.
Post-match Cordner rued the latter missed chance, but backed his decision to go for goal with 23 minutes left on the clock rather than try and chase another try.
"In hindsight I probably could have done a bit better for the team there [on the three-on-one]," Cordner said.
"I don't think I regret [taking the penalty goal] at all, we got in position to take the field goal and we were up [13-12 with five minutes to go].
"We had plenty of opportunities after that as well. Just our execution there at the end, that's what cost us.
"We lacked a bit of class there in the end."
The Auckland defeat sees the Roosters drop to fifth on the NRL Telstra Premiership ladder heading in to the representative weekend.
