Tairāwhiti No 5 Tony Akroyd was left lamenting a match he had control of. Akroyd was four-up after 11 holes against Phil Stephens, but lost the next five holes, and Stephens birdied the 18th for a two-up win.
No 2 Tony Boon caught Mike Toeke on one of those days. Toeke was six-under the card and seven-up after nine holes. Boon won the 11th with a birdie, but it only delayed the end, which came on the 13th.
No 3 Matt Henwood lost 6 and 4 to Scott Manyweathers and No 4 Craig Palmer held on as best he could, including making an eagle-2 on his 10th hole (the first), before losing 2 and 1 to a machine-like Phil Bungard.
The team loss has Tairāwhiti on zero team points and 5½ individual points, half a team point behind Manawatū-Wanganui.
On the positive side, Tairāwhiti have not been easybeats for any of their opponents, including North Harbour in round four.
The 4-1 scoreline did not reflect the battle, with three matches going to the 18th.
Solomann was three-up after 12 against Ben Jujnovich, who was beaten by Solomann’s son Glenn in the championship final of the Poverty Bay Open in September.
Jujnovich won four of the next five holes to go one-up and Solomann won the 18th for a half.
Akroyd had a humdinger battle with Stephen O’Reilly, who led three-up after five holes. Akroyd won three of the next four holes, trailed one-down after 17 and won 18 for a share of the spoils.
Boon was also up in the early stages of the second nine against Adam Williams, but lost the last two holes for a one-down defeat.
Palmer was beaten 4 and 3 by Ki Kong Kim, who was two-under at the finish, and Richie Apanui was beaten 4 and 3 by James Colligan.
Tairāwhiti are eyeing an elusive team win in round six on Thursday morning against Manawatū-Wanganui before playing 12th-placed Waikato in the afternoon.
They have a bye in round eight on Friday morning and end the week against Southland in the afternoon.
Bay of Plenty, whose team features two-time Poverty Bay Open champion Mark Smith and Craig Van der Nagel – another player familiar to Gisborne locals – are top of the table on 17 points, with Auckland second on 16½ and Canterbury third on 16.