Missed conversion costs Thames Valley
It summed up Thames Valley’s Heartland Championship season so near yet so far.
No sooner had second fiveeighth Shaun Hill gone over in the dying minutes to seemingly see the Swamp Foxes win their final regular season game against Poverty Bay at Boyd Park in Te Aroha on Saturday, than first five-eighth Chris Doak missed the conversion from handy range.
There was time for the restart, but the Valley weren’t able to conjure anything more, and they were consigned to a 35-34 defeat which left them equal on points with Poverty Bay but missing out on the Lochore Cup playoffs, for teams ranked fifth to eighth, on the head to head tiebreaker.
So after a season full of promise under new coach Matthew Bartleet, where the Valley looked a real chance of making the top four Meads Cup semifinals for the first time, their season finished with three successive defeats.
After shooting out to a 17-0 advantage on Saturday, thanks to tries to winger Lafituanai, fullback Josh Law and lock Aaron Carroll, they looked to at least be a prime chance of playing again next weekend.
However, Poverty Bay fought back to trail just 24-21 at halftime, then went out to a handy advantage, and while Carroll went over for his double in the second half to put the Valley within striking distance, they just couldn’t nail their chance when it mattered.
‘‘We have to learn to win, and we have to learn to kick goals that’s a big part of playing rugby,’’ Bartleet said, adding his team were pretty clinical in their execution until fatigue kicked in.
‘‘Again, we played some really neat rugby, but we were perhaps shown up with fitness being a bit lacking, and missed tackles.’’
Ninth place belied how well the team performed - particularly up front, where Bartleet felt they were never outplayed - and their five losses this season were all within nine points, with three of them within three. So it was certainly a case of ‘close, but not close enough’.
‘‘But [there’s been] big progress on where the team was,’’ Bartleet said. ‘‘I think our culture’s much better, and our commitment to training. We’re in a good position, I think.’’
Meanwhile, King Country - who were already assured of a bottomfour finish - ended up one place
behind Thames Valley, in 10th, after a dismal campaign where they won just one match.
In Saturday’s final round the Rams - who were the only other side to never have played in the Meads Cup - again showed they could score points, but again showed how easily they concede too, with a six-tries-apiece 43-38 defeat to Mid Canterbury at Owen Delany Park in Taupo.
In the other results, South Canterbury confirmed top spot by making it a winless season for East Coast with a 45-7 victory in Ruatoria, Horowhenua Kapiti finished in second after beating Buller who they will face in the semis 30-26 in Westport, two-time defending champs Wanganui scraped through on points differential in a three-way tie after holding out North Otago 10-6 at Cooks Gardens, and Piri Weepu hung up the boots after his Wairarapa Bush side lost 36-26 to West Coast in Masterton.