Over the two days the sides played five matches each, Otago winning three of its five and making a quarterfinal berth against Auckland which it lost 38-12.
North Otago was unable to register a win but put up a memorable effort, especially against Horowhenua-Kapiti. It led 21-7 at halftime but lost 33-26.
On the back of a somewhat disjointed lead-up, which included losing some key players like captain and former New Zealand IRB World Series player Paul Grant, Otago exceeded most expectations.
Coach Mike Moeahu agreed. "I think we went pretty good, really. We were pretty happy to get through to the quarters but a lack of experience and a bit of inconsistency cost us, really ... letting a couple of tries go that we shouldn't have."
He was quick to praise his team for its efforts in every match and singled out Marshall Suckling and new Wellington signing Buxton Popoalii as his key players in the tournament.
"They played really well and I thought the young fellows, when they came on, played really well, Matt Faddes and Logan Moore and young Simon Knight. But I think it was a pretty good team effort."
Drawn in the same pool, Otago and North Otago also had to contend with 2010 champion Waikato and Horowhenua-Kapiti on day one. In Otago's first match against Horowhenua-Kapiti, it triumphed 19-0. North Otago battled well against Waikato in its first game but went down 27-7.
The feature match for the fans had to be when the two Otago-based sides played each other. Otago won 36-10 but North Otago showed some real poise and skill, especially captain Billy Guyton who had a great tournament.
Late in the day came both Otago's and North Otago's best matches. The latter took on Horowhenua-Kapiti and after leading 21-7 at halftime, lost 33-26. Otago met Waikato in the final game of the day and lost a thriller, 22-17.
Both sides were beaten convincingly in each of their two games on day two.
Moeahu said Queenstown was a special place to play and with good crowd support on both days, he hoped the tournament would be there for a few more years yet.
