Both Otago teams have qualified for the national sevens tournament, with the men winning and women finishing second at the Southern region qualifying tournament in Timaru today.
Thomas Johnson scored a try in the dying minutes to take the Otago men to a 29-27 victory over Tasman in a thrilling final.
After Otago shot out to a 12-0 lead, Tasman fought back and tied the score at 12-12 at halftime. The two teams then exchanged tries twice, before Tasman scored another to take the lead, forcing Otago to dig deep for the win.
Earlier Otago scored two late tries to claim a 21-19 win over Canterbury in the semifinals.
The Otago women had a promising start to their final, scoring the first two tries to lead 12-0, but Canterbury got the better of them, scoring four tries to run out 22-17 winners.
A dominant semifinal display against Tasman, in which Otago won 31-0, saw that they had already safely advanced to the national tournament.
