For the third time in five years the Maroon and Golds of North Otago lost the Third Division NPC Rugby final going in to the match as champions.

Near neighbours South Canterbury stormed home to snatch a 20-16 victory in glorious sunshine in Oamaru a small coastal town between Dunedin and Christchurch in the South Island.

40 backpackers from England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Holland, the US and Canada and even 2 from Port Chalmers and Kaikorai Valley joined in on the occasion to support the home North Otago team.

A hot hot cloudless sky greeted the team at Centennial Park, having made there way up from Dunedin that morning. On went the facepaint and we were all looking good.

A few beers and a BBQ went down well before a few drills were ran to put the (generally) novice Rugby watchers through their paces. Scrums, lineouts, backlines, Up n Unders?? Ya what? All good fun, as we introduced them to the finer points of New Zealand's national game.

Hookers, locks and loosies - sounds more like what you'd find in a red light district but no, these are all elements of a scrum in Rugby!

Prizes galore as the team did their own impersonations.

Ben scooped the pool with his naked pot bellied version - just as well the rugby ball hid his tackle!

And back to the game....

Ahead 11-3 at halftime the game looked secure especially after another try put them 16-6 ahead with 15 minutes to play. However the boys from the other side of the Waitaki River thought otherwise and two late converted tries saw them sneak in.

Last year North Otago lost the final also by 4 points and similarly winger Toetu Palamo had an opportunity to win the game back with a last minute dive for the line but was not able to secure the ball. De ja vu for sure.

So whilst there were many unhappy North Otago supporters, life goes on and we congregated again at the Excelsior Clubrooms to console ourselves with a few beers. Club member Richard kept the group entertained welcoming the international visitors to Oamaru and to the game. A couple more prizes were handed out and suitably dealt with by a couple of the group who just could not keep their clothes on .....

So it was back on the bus and off to Queenstown for half the group and Dunedin to continue the Bottom Bus south for the rest.