The ups and downs of finalround footy

THE final round of the Mitre 10 Cup brought both joy and despair.

Auckland was in the former camp. Despite losing its last roundrobin game to Canterbury 3227, it survived relegation from the premiership.

Waikato was not so lucky. It went down to Bay of Plenty 3632 and will spend next season in the championship.

Bay of Plenty was all smiles, though. Its win meant it moved up to second in the championship and it will host a home semifinal against Otago in Rotorua this Saturday.

Wellington had already secured a home venue for the other championship semifinal and will play Northland again, having dispatched the Taniwha 3618 in the capital on Thursday night.

Taranaki was wellbeaten 6433 by North Harbour but qualified at the top of the premiership standings and will host Tasman, which lost 5230 to CountiesManukau.

Canterbury will host North Harbour in the other premiership semifinal.

Otago’s 4319 win against Southland lifted it to third in the championship but it had to wait around until yesterday evening for the outcome of the match between Manawatu and Hawke’s Bay for its final position to be revealed.

Manawatu needed to win to make the playoffs but was undone 3631 in Napier.

‘‘It would have been great to get a home semi and that is a little bit disappointing,’’ Otago coach Cory Brown said.

‘‘But we are just really stoked to be in the semis and to get another week.’’

Brown said he had no preferences who Otago faced in the semifinal, but the team must be relieved to avoid Wellington, which has been the form side in the championship.

Otago stumbled to a 3628 loss to Bay of Plenty at Forsyth Barr Stadium earlier this month. A bit more composure and the final result may have been different.

Otago came through a feisty match with Southland unscathed.

Winger Mitchell Scott, who was making his return from a hamstring injury, was subbed after half an hour as a precaution but is expect to be fit.

‘‘We felt that he wasn’t really able to open up and we didn’t want to blow it out.

‘‘It was just about keeping an eye on Mitchell, really.’’

While Brown has no fresh injury concerns, the team will need to work hard on its restarts.

The team went from the high of scoring to hard on defence thanks to some sloppy communication once too often.

‘‘Our restarts caused us a bit of an issue. They’ve just got to be on the same page. Someone has to demand the ball.

‘‘We’ve got a system with who is supposed to be taking the restarts but sometimes there is just a little bit of confusion. They have to learn from that.’’

All the Mitre 10 semifinals are on Saturday, except the WellingtonNorthland fixture, which is on Friday night.