Secondhalf rally not enough for Whalers
RUGBY LEAGUE
OTAGO was gallant and gave everything but it was an alltoofamiliar story in Auckland on Saturday.
For the fourth year in a row, the Otago Whalers made the final of the national championship. And for the fourth year in a row, they came up short.
On Saturday at Trusts Stadium in Henderson, the Whalers went down to the Northland Swords 2220.
The Otago side was left to rue a slow start when it scored the first try but could not get much else going in the first half.
It went into the sheds down 226 at halftime and left them with a mountain to climb. Northland was a slick side when it got on the front foot and that was exactly what was presented to it from a misfiring Whalers team in the opening 40 minutes.
Whalers coach Dave Reedy was at a loss why the side did not get its game going in the first half.
“Our preparation was fine and the warmup was good and I thought we were all fired up, ready to go. But we dropped too much ball and missed a few tackles,” Reedy said.
Northland was hard to stop and its size saw it gain some quick metres.
Otago had to regroup at halftime and used the time wisely.
It came back into the game and got back to 2220 with a few minutes left.
Otago then got over the line to score but it was called back for a knockon, which summed up its luck in the final over the past few years.
The game was played in hot and muggy weather until just before halftime, when the rain arrived, and it poured down for most of the second half.
Reedy said his players were disappointed and they had bombed some tryscoring opportunities near the end, but he had to take his hat off to the Northland Swords side.
Cameron Brown had a solid game at loose forward for Otago and Jake Fowler was all energy in the Whalers’ forward pack. Big centre Sione Fa’aoso ran hard all game and worried the Northland defence.
Reedy said it was tough to swallow losing four finals in a row, but the side had done well to get there and Northland had played well.
Reedy was awarded the national competition coach of the year award for the competition. He joked he wanted to retire if the side had won, so will have to come back again next year.