The Hurricanes will play either the Lions or Sharks in the semi-finals, with the two South African sides to clash in Johannesburg later on Saturday.
"TJ (Perenara) just said it was a sloppy performance for us and it was," Boyd told local media, referring to his scrumhalf's summary of the grinding win at Canberra Stadium.
"We were really disappointed at halftime.
"I think it's our poorest performance in the last three games we've played and we can't walk away happy.
"At times we were terrible and we won ugly but we can't keep doing that."
The team will be camped in Sydney to watch the South African quarter-final and will hope the underdog Sharks can upset the Lions, who finished the regular season top of the standings.
A Lions win would mean the Hurricanes board a long-haul flight to Johannesburg but a Sharks victory would mean hosting the Durban side in Wellington.
Boyd would have been more enthused by the safe return of world class hooker Dane Coles.
After a tough four months on the sidelines battling concussion symptoms and a litany of injuries, the All Black came off the bench and set up a game-breaking try to Perenara in the second half by beating three defenders with a burst of raw pace.
"My lungs were hissing a bit, but I was just trying to go at it and have a bit of fun and enjoy it," Coles told New Zealand media.
"It's been a long time watching footy, awesome to be back and out on the field for the boys.
"Really sore today, it's a good sign that I got through a bit of work."
(Reporting by Ian Ransom; Editing by Amlan Chakraborty)
