Unlikely semifinalists as top three teams all beaten

WE have our semifinalists but they are perhaps not who you thought they were going to be.

Even Nostradamus was unlikely to have seen this coming.

The top three teams all lost in the playoffs of the premier grade on Saturday.

Taieri survives to fight again. It was the highestranked loser and will play Harbour at Watson Park in one semifinal, while University will host Southern in the other.

Taieri went into its game against Southern at Peter Johnstone Park as a very warm favourite.

The Eels had won seven games on the trot and finished the round robin in top spot.

Southern had been labouring a tad but did enough to qualify in sixth.

That counted for nothing, though. Southern upset Taieri 75 to nab a semifinal berth.

University nailed a late dropped goal two weeks ago to squeak past Harbour 1916 and clinch a playoffs spot.

But with Otago players unavailable for the playoffs, University went into the match against Kaikorai missing the likes of Taylor Haugh, Josh Hill and Ricky Jackson.

But University still had fullback Jermaine Pepe and he set up two wonderful tries to help University upset Kaikorai 2821 at Bishopscourt.

In the other playoff match, Logan Allen drilled a late penalty from 50m to seal a tense 1310 win against Dunedin at Kettle Park.

Some kick that.

And with it Dunedin dropped out of the competition and Harbour went through to the semifinals as the highestranked side.

The Hawks had finished the round robin in fourth place.

The tournament has been extremely close all season.

Of the 39 games to date, 15 of them have been won by four or fewer points.

Taieri, while it qualified top, had won three of its games by a single point.