The home side battled through the round robin matches, quarterfinals and semifinals, to meet the defending champion. In doing so, it equalled its effort of 2004, when it last made the final.
The young side was the clear underdog in the final but, if there were nerves, it did not show as straight from the kick-off, captain Paul Grant burst into a 30m run before Auckland tied the giant forward down.
Otago was soon on the back foot, before Auckland's Tenina Sauilaeoge broke the line and sent Lolagi Visina over for its first try.
Otago replied quickly, through national sevens debutant Kieran Moffat, who stood out as one of Otago's players of the tournament.
Missed tackles and attacking jitters from Otago allowed Auckland to creep through again, but a sharp run and a quick tap from player of the tournament, Buxton Popoali'i, set Grant up in the corner to give the home side a 17-12 lead at the break.
Otago was set back when Joe Hill went off with a foot injury early in the second half and Auckland capitalised with an overlap in the outfield and Malakai Fekitoa scored to retake back the lead.
The visitors then began to scrap away from Otago's gutsy effort and scored tries through Sauilaeoge and Ben Lam, a 31-17 lead, with no time for Otago to creep back.
However, Otago made every effort, after scoring a try, as Auckland was left one man down, after Rocky Khan was sent from the field for a dangerous tackle.
Alex Samoa laid the game to rest for Auckland dotting down before fulltime.
Otago's road to the final told a convincing story.
Beating Horowhenua Kapiti 29-12 and Southland 40-12, North Island tournament winner Taranaki was the only side to beat ithem in five games before the final.
They were convincing against Manawatu yesterday, 31-5, and unexpectedly trampled Canterbury by 31 unanswered points.
Coach Roy Hawker said after the final he was pleased with the overall individual and collective efforts of his side and never considered it was the tournament underdog.
"I'm really proud of the performance they put on today.
"External expectations mean nothing. We measure our own expectations on ourselves."
Hawker said although this was one of Otago's best efforts at the tournament the team would be disappointed, having come so close.
"You'll see the team is a little bit disappointed to have lost the final because we came here to win a final.
"We didn't lie down and we didn't give up. We fought to the final whistle because we believe we could have won it."
He said after speaking to New Zealand sevens coach Gordon Tietjens that the head national selector had also picked Popoali'i as player of the tournament.
"Buxton is a special player. Brad Weber is a special player. Kieran Moffat really announced himself.
"Paul Grant, as a leader, is sensational. I could talk about all of these people. Joe Hill: people say he can't tackle but he was smashing them out there today.
"That's what sevens rugby should be about. It should be a breeding ground for Otago to bring on these young kids that we believe in and give them that chance to take on teams like Auckland."
