The leading team in the Otago premier school competition needed a try on fulltime to make it through to the final.
King’s High School is undefeated in the tournament but almost came unstuck in the semifinal thanks to a gutsy effort by Otago Boys’ High School Second XV.
King’s fullback Josh Duff scored deep in injury time to help clinch a dramatic 25-22 win at Hancock Park.
A few minutes earlier, Otago Boys’ had scored to take the lead 22-18. It had one foot in the final but King’s found a way to win.
It forced a turnover from a lineout inside Otago Boys’ half. It attacked for six or seven phases before the ball was swung to Duff, who stepped off his right and ducked a couple of tackles to score from about 5m out.
‘‘It was a bit of a tight one,’’ King’s co-coach Ryan Bambry said.
‘‘Otago Boys’ were very good today. They played very well. They were very physical and put us under pressure.’’
King’s built an early 12-0 lead but this was to be a topsy-turvy game. Otago Boys’ responded with 12 unanswered points to go to the break level.
King’s reclaimed the lead twice through a penalty and led 18-17 with about five minutes remaining.
Bambry said his side got a ‘‘real wake-up call’’ but he was pleased with the way the team was able to respond.
‘‘We made a lot of uncharacteristic mistakes. There was a lot of dropped ball.
‘‘Our decision making under pressure was not so good but we showed real character at the end to score when we thought it was almost over.’’
King’s will play John McGlashan College in the final. The defending champion had a comfortable 43-18 win against South Otago High School in the other semifinal.
However, the first 35 minutes was ‘‘not flash’’. South Otago led 6-5 at the break and McGlashan was playing poorly.
‘‘They were totally off their game,’’ First XV team director Mike Idour said.
McGlashan piled on six second-half tries to run out the winner on its home ground. Centre Jimmy Sinclair was playing his 50th game for the First XV and scored a try to celebrate.
Captain Reon Lowry was also playing his 50th game and he really celebrated, scoring three tries including, a 60m intercept effort.
The cover defence caught up with the big fellow but he swatted them off.
In the other games, St Kevin’s College beat Kavanagh College 13-10 in Oamaru and Dunstan High School downed Taieri College 24-17 at Peter Johnstone Park.
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