Silver Ferns captain Laura Langman feels they gifted the Australian Diamonds their 57-42 victory in the opening Constellation Cup test in Brisbane on Sunday.
The Ferns turned the ball over 39 times in the match and all those mistakes proved costly in the end, as the Diamonds claimed their eighth straight win over New Zealand.
The match was close early, with the scores locked at 10-10, before Australia pulled away, outscoring the Ferns by a combined 17 points in the second and third quarters.
Langman was quick to put her hand up for the poor performance.
"We said, right from the outset, we wanted consistent performances and we definitely didn't do that today," Langman said.
"Straight after the game, all of us identified those soft errors. I was guilty of a number today.
"It's just not good enough and not international standard. We need to sort that out and that will put us in the fight, because when that happens, that's pretty much one goal and then it's their centre pass and that's two.
"So if everyone is doing four or five - and I was doing a lot - that's costly."
The teams will meet again in Townsville on Wednesday, before ending the series with two games in Hamilton and Wellington.
Coach Noeline Taurua knows her side have plenty to improve on, if they want to win back the Cup for the first time since 2012.
"When you look at the scoreboard like that, it's definitely an uppercut," Taurua said.
"We've just got to keep the faith in what we're doing and once again, those little things or small things, we've got to be able to execute and deliver."
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