Chiefs coach Warren Gatland has praised his players' courage and effort as their "tough" Super Rugby Aoteara campaign ended with a 31-18 defeat to the Hurricanes in Wellington on Saturday.
The Chiefs finished with a 0-8 record, although their losing streak is at nine having lost their final game before the coronavirus pandemic forced Super Rugby to be cancelled in March.
Gatland's side last tasted victory 155 days ago when they beat the Waratahs a 51-14 on March 6, when they had an impressive 4-1 record.
But things have gone drastically downhill since then, although the Highlanders still hold the record for the most consecutive defeats by a New Zealand franchise - losing 11 straight in 2012-13.
But Gatland can't fault his side for not throwing in the towel during these testing times, and he believes they'll be better off in the long run as a result.
"It's been tough," he said. "We were in a pretty good place before lockdown, we'd tried to rotate a lot of the squad and given a few younger players an opportunity.
"There's a number of games we've been right in there, one or two games we could point the finger at ourselves that we should have nailed that and finished it off, but we've been pretty unlucky with a few calls as well.
"We're disappointed but we'll learn a heck of a lot from this and will make us stronger as a unit and better going forward.
"One thing I said to these players is, they've got to hold their heads high. People with lesser character would have thrown the towel in and started thinking about not giving effort.
"You can see these players, they're trying hard. They're coming up against some good teams and we've got some young inexperienced players who will learn from that.
"I can't fault the effort that's going in."
There was one moment of concern for the Chiefs during the match, after captain Sam Cane left the field with a neck injury after trying to tackle Hurricanes fullback Jordie Barrett.
There were some worried faces as Cane fractured his neck less than two years ago during a Rugby Championship test against the Springboks in Pretoria.
Despite concerns, Gatland said Cane's neck appears fine, although he did fail his concussion test.
"I just spoke to him. He's lined Jordie up and he's come down and sort of hit him," said Gatland.
"It looks like a concussion and, just talking to him in the changing room, he seems OK.
"He can remember what happened, it's not as if he doesn't remember the incident, so he'll have to go through those return to play protocols."
The loss saw the Chiefs finish Super Rugby Aotearoa with five points, enough to claim the wooden spoon.
For the Hurricanes, their fifth-straight win keeps them in the hunt for the Super Rugby Aotearoa title, although the Crusaders can lock the trophy away with victory over the Highlanders on Sunday afternoon.
Join us for live updates of the Crusaders v Highlanders Super Rugby Aotearoa clash from 3:35pm Sunday
