Les Kiss and Stephen Larkham insist it's not curtains for Australia's Super Rugby Pacific sides despite acknowledging the gap after their New Zealand rivals delivered a Christchurch clean sweep.
Heavy Super Round losses for the NSW Waratahs and ACT Brumbies against the Crusaders and Hurricanes were followed by an extra-time win by the Blues over the Reds at the sold-out One NZ Stadium.
With four rounds remaining, the top four Super Rugby Pacific ladder spots are occupied by New Zealand teams.
Of particular concern for the Australian sides was the line-out dominance of their opponents, with the Waratahs (64 per cent), Brumbies (69 per cent) and the Reds (71 per cent) all picked off.
But Reds coach Kiss and Brumbies counterpart Larkham have not bought into the doom and gloom.
"You don't like getting locked into checking the ladder all the time, but it's impossible, it's always in your mind, where it all falls," Kiss said after his side's terrific fightback ended in a gutting loss.
"It's one (result) that could have been very important, but I don't think it means anything's over and I don't think the Brumbies think that either.
"You'd have to say their (NZ teams) form is a little bit better. They're getting those wins they need, those teams (but) there's some significant movements in games that will turn the table around."
Offering hope is the fact the trans-Tasman record was 8-7 in favour of New Zealand teams before the Super Round sweep blew out the margin.
Skewing the ladder has been the Brumbies' losses to the Reds, Waratahs and Fijian Drua, twice, while the Reds dropped games to the Waratahs and the Force.
And there will be opportunities to make up ground.
The Hurricanes and Blues don't face another Australian opponent in the final month of the regular season while the Chiefs' only trans-Tasman contest is against the Reds in a fortnight.
"Our form line's going like this (up) and we just have to stick at it," Kiss said, pointing to next Saturday's home date with the Brumbies as crucial.
Larkham said the table was "fairly accurate" and that his Brumbies' task was to rediscover their best after a poor night against the pace-setting Hurricanes followed a shock loss to the Drua last weekend.
"Every team's getting better (and) the results would indicate the last two weeks we've gone backwards ... (but) we'll drown out the external noise," he said.
"I don't want to keep (looking) backwards ... you get to test yourself again next week."
Blues coach Vern Cotter, who will take over from inbound Wallabies coach Les Kiss at the Reds next season, senses that it won't be one-way Kiwi traffic for the rest of this campaign.
"There were a lot of people from Australian rugby over here to watch players play and there's key selections to be made going into the World Cup," he said.
"It's ramped up, it certainly has."
