A dejected Darren Coleman conceded his misfiring side's attack "stunk" at times as the unbeaten, table-topping Chiefs heaped more pain on the NSW Waratahs in an uninspiring 24-14 Super Rugby Pacific victory in Sydney.
Wallabies coach Eddie Jones was on hand to witness an error-riddled match on Friday night that only briefly came to life during a frenetic period in the second half.
Jones earlier on Friday admitted he hadn't been impressed with much from Australia's five Super Rugby sides so far this season and he might have been forgiven for wondering what he'd got himself into after the Waratahs' lacklustre showing.
Coleman's injury-hit outfit were resolute in defence but butter-fingered and clunky in attack despite the best efforts of their faithful fans at Allianz Stadium to lift the Tahs to a desperately needed win.
Alas, the Waratahs slumped to a fourth defeat from five outings.
"I want to go home and kick the dog but I don't have a dog," coach Coleman said.
"It just hurts. It hurts in your gut when that happens.
"You just want to get out of that hole of confidence and form you're in. I mean, we tried hard. It wasn't through effort that we didn't get out of there today (with a win)."
A runaway 40-metre intercept try to skipper Jake Gordon in the 17th minute offset a soft early cross from Chiefs five-eighth Bryn Gatland and looked to be the energising jolt the Waratahs needed.
The Chiefs mounted attack after attack but the Tahs produced a heroic defensive effort to keep the competition leaders at bay.
The Chiefs resorted to a penalty shot from near halfway, so desperate were they to convert their territorial dominance into points.
But Damian McKenzie's long-range effort wasn't even close as the Tahs went to the break somehow level at 7-7.
McKenzie eventually slotted a 45-metre shot to break the deadlock after halftime before Chiefs winger Emoni Narawa sent the visitors out to a 17-7 lead with a 54th-minute try.
Michael Hooper, in his milestone 133rd Super Rugby game, making the champion flanker the most-capped Waratahs back-rower ever, gave his side hope when he finished off a driving maul try on the hour.
But Narawa's second try five minutes from fulltime sealed victory for the Chiefs and left the Waratahs empty-handed without even a bonus point.
"We didn't get too many chances in the first half with the ball. The ones we did, we weren't great - we were clunky again," Coleman said.
"The second half we did get our opportunities and we just didn't taken them.
"There were some skill error, some system error in attack and that's what's hurting us. We should have scored more than 14 points."
Coleman and co travel to Canberra next Saturday to face a Brumbies side chasing a 10th straight win over the Waratahs in what seems an early must-win encounter for last year's struggling quarter-finalists.
"We need a confidence-boosting win but we also need a ladder win," Coleman said.
"I'm not giving up. We'll go down there fighting and, yeah, we'll try and rain on their parade."