Southland Boys' were poised to set sail in the second half but were blown away instead.
They were well beaten 41-10 by Rotorua Boys’ in the semifinal of the National First XV Top Four finals in Palmerston North yesterday.
They trailed 21-5 at the break but had a strong wind at their back for the second spell.
But some sloppy handling gifted Rotorua Boys’ the opportunity to strike.
They scored four tries into the breeze to clinch a spot in tomorrow’s final.
They will play Feilding High School, who rallied in the second half to beat Westlake Boys’ 39-34 in the other semifinal.
Rotorua Boys’ second five Hieke McGarvey barged over in the opening minutes of the match.
His side had got into a prime attacking position off the back of a couple of fumbles by their opponent.
Southland Boys’ opted to run the ball out at every opportunity. There was not a lot to be gained by kicking into the wind.
That presented Rotorua with a few more opportunities to add to their score.
Southland defended their line admirably, but Rotorua worked the ball to the left and winger Luke Rakuraku-Richards went over in the corner untouched.
Tukotahi Richards-Te Whau curved in the conversion from the sideline.
Southland responded through winger Ezekiel Hammond-Siolo, who made an electric burst down the left.
First five Jimmy Taylor bobbed and weaved his way across the field, but it was centre Caleb Harvey who eventually crashed over.
But a late 50-22 saw Rotorua Boys’ sweep back on to attack.
They were able to drive over from a lineout and went into the break up by 16 points.
Southland made several critical handling errors early in the second half when they were hot on attack.
Rotorua capitalised. They got the ball out wide to Rakuraku-Richards and he got a nice inside ball to McGarvey, who ran in for a second five-pointer.
They cemented their advantage further with another try from a lineout drive and added two more to complete a convincing win.
