After being the only South Island side to make the top eight at the national sevens tournament, Otago had the tough task of playing a very talented - and very big - Wellington team in the quarterfinals early yesterday.
But Otago did not go into its shell and played a first half of which coach Luke Herden would have been proud.
Skipper Matt Faddes scored two nice tries, making the most of Wellington having a man in the sin bin.
Some staunch defence kept the Wellington side out and Otago turned for the second half up 12-0 and looking like causing an upset.
But Wellington just took over the second half and did not give Otago a sniff.
The men from the capital scored four tries within five minutes, claiming the ball from the kick-off three times in a row and skipping clear.
Josh Ioane scored a try right at the end and, with the conversion got it back to 24-19, but the game was over and Otago was out of the running for the title.
Wellington went on to lose 38-19 to Waikato in the final.
Otago had given its all and the tank was pretty much empty in its plate semifinal and it went down 28-19 to Taranaki.
The side had made it through to the second day after two draws and a big win in pool play on Saturday.
Otago drew 19-19 with Auckland and 17-17 with Manawatu.
A Faddes sideline conversion tied the game up against Auckland and the side hung tough against Manawatu.
Knowing it had to beat Mid Canterbury to make the top half of the draw, Otago made no race of it, winning 52-5 to rack up the biggest score of the tournament.
Faddes had an impressive tournament, making some fine breaks while Fa'asiu Fuatai ran hard. In the forwards, Michael Collins worked hard, as did Naulia Dawai.
The Otago women found the going tough at times during the weekend and the strength of women's sevens clearly lies in the North Island.
On Saturday, the Otago women lost 21-7 to Auckland, 29-5 to Waikato and 26-5 to Counties-Manukau. The side beat Southland 28-19.
Yesterday, it ended up winning the bowl to finish ninth in the 10-team competition.
After losing to Taranaki 29-7, it faced up to Southland again and, in a tight match, won 19-12.
Victoria Subritzky-Nafatali showed some nice touches as did Samara Hollows.
Auckland beat Manawatu 29-14 in the final.
