Not many coaches are prepared to say they can win the Meads Cup after a loss.
It is a comment North Otago coach Jason Forrest made with pride after his side were beaten 26-22 by South Canterbury in Oamaru on Saturday.
The victory extended the defending champions’ winning streak to 25 as they retained the Hanan Shield and Phil Gard and Bill Direen Memorial Trophies in front of a large crowd.
But the Old Golds were arguably the better team with a heroic defensive effort that kept South Canterbury at bay until the final five minutes, when Sireli Bulirurua scored.
"We now know we can win the Meads Cup," Forrest said.
"We can front up like that against Whanganui again next week — now it’s just[a case of] building on that.
"To keep South Canterbury to 26 points ... hugely proud of our group from our performance last week to the performance this week."
Locks Rory Bartle and Josh Clark put in a big shift up front, as did props Meli Kolinisau and Kelepi Funaki.
The Old Golds could not be faulted on attack and were impressive, considering they were without key players in Junior Fakatoufifita and Vilimoni Koroi.
But do not think the result does not sting.
"It hurts, but we’ll be OK. We’ll move on."
South Canterbury centre Clarence Moli made some nice breaks early and Sam Briggs controlled the tempo for his side early and put them down the right part of the park.
They looked close to scoring, but the Old Golds’ scrambling defence held them up over the line.
That fired up the home team, who made the most of their attacking opportunities.
As they got out of their end, Ollion shifted the ball out to centre Matia Qiolevu, who made a a dazzling run.
He brushed aside South Canterbury’s defence, bursting 40m down the field and shifting the ball to Osea Qamasea on the wing, who finished off.
The visitors hit back in the 23rd minute to take the lead.
No 8 Siu Kakala picked the ball up from a broken ruck 5m out to score, and a William Wright conversion made it 7-5.
Ollion banged over a penalty about 40m out before a sensational try.
Mone Samate intercepted a South Canterbury line ball on halfway and showed his speed, leaving everyone behind to score. Ollion added the extras to push out to 15-7.
The Old Golds were under non-stop pressure for the first 15 minutes of the second half and put in a monster shift on defence to keep South Canterbury out.
Kakala eventually broke down the brick wall to score and trail 15-14.
"There’s not anyone in the Heartland that’s done that to a South Canterbury side," Forrest said.
"Ten, 15 minutes of constant attack against us and we held them out, and then just a couple of fundamental errors from us — that’s just pressure. Pressure does that in key moments."
The Old Golds hit back, keeping the ball tight among the forwards and working it close to the line.
Funaki went over after a big shift and Levi Emery converted to make it 22-14.
But South Canterbury found their way back down the park and the Old Golds’ defence could not hold up this time.
Heartland Championship
The scores
South Canterbury 26
Siu Kakala 2, Lisiate Folau, Sireli Bulirurua tries; William Wright 3 con.
North Otago 22
Osea Qamasea, Mone Samate, Kelepi Funaki tries; Lucas Ollion con, pen, Levi Emery con.
Halftime: North Otago 15-7.
