The men had to overcome some injuries throughout the tournament and at one stage were down to the bare bones.
Key man Tony Ensor felt a niggle in his knee three minutes into the first game of the day, against South Canterbury, and left the field, playing no more part in the tournament.
Another speedster, winger Gavin Stark, suffered a sore hamstring after the first game and had a limited role in the rest of the day.
The side's other main threat out wide, Otago winger Fa'asiu Fuatai, was limited by national coach Gordon Tietjens to only playing three halves during the tournament. He played well when he was on the field and scored a couple of good tries.
Otago made no race of it during the pool games, beating South Canterbury 34-7, Southland 33-12 and Tasman 17-5.
In a rematch with Tasman in the semifinal, Otago lost 22-19, not able to keep control of a fast Tasman side.
Otago then won the playoff for third, beating Mid Canterbury 29-19.
Otago coach Luke Herden said he was happy with the performance of his side, considering the player losses, which put extra strain on the other players.
He said the defence could have been better and there were perhaps too many fundamental missed tackles by individuals, while the side tried to go into contact at times when it was better to look for the space.
He said the injured players did not appear to be seriously hurt.
Canterbury beat Tasman in the final. Southland failed to qualify for the national tournament after it lost to South Canterbury in the playoff for fifth.
In the women's competition, Otago made the most of any chance that came along in the final as it beat Canterbury 24-17.
The women played well throughout the day, moving the ball around and showing strength at the breakdown.
Otago women's coach Mike Moeahu said the side stuck to its systems throughout the day and kept it going in the final.
He was pleased with the input of the young players, and the experienced hands came to the fore when the pressure was on.
Otago beat Canterbury 21-19 in the round robin, coming back from a big deficit. Canterbury copped a couple of injuries and was missing players in the final.
Otago led 12-5 at halftime in the final but Canterbury went ahead midway through the second half.
Otago winger Pip Symes got on the end of a nice pass from Victoria Subritzky-Nafatali to score, and Subritzky-Nafatali added a difficult conversion.
Otago then moved the ball to both sides before Angie Sisifa went over in the corner to win the game for Otago.
The two Otago sides will now have just over a month to train for the national tournament in Rotorua on January 17-18.
