"The Mount had some excellent plays, that they had clearly worked hard on and with a quick off load they caught us off guard."
Royal admitted he was "devastated" not to be able to feature for his club after sustaining a thumb injury a month ago.
"It was hard watching on from the sideline and I was incredibly disappointed not to finish my season off," he said.
"But those sort of things happen and I'm very proud of what they have achieved."
Rotoiti were unable to replicate their dramatic 27-21 victory over Mount Maunganui from the previous weekend which sealed their place in the final four.
But Royal praised his side and said the players had "exceeding expectation" this season.
"In many ways we have actually over achieved after battling hard in a very long competition," he said.
"We have gone above and beyond what many have expected from us and we can look back and be very happy with what we've accomplished."
Royal's focus is now turned to the Bay of Plenty Steamers, with fellow Rotoiti prop Siegfried Fisi'ihoi also being selected in the squad.
But Royal hopes he will once again have a key role to play for club side next season, in his fifth year with Rotoiti, and insisted the team are capable of mounting a series title challenge.
"I definitely think we can do even better. This is a very strong group of players," he said.
"We are very united and have been closer and tighter than a lot of other years.
"We just need to believe from the beginning that we are good enough to win."
With the Bay of Plenty Steamers playing a Mitre 10 Cup warm-up match against Northland in Whakatane on Friday none of those players are allowed to play finals rugby this weekend.
So Mount Maunganui will lose four players and Rangataua one from their semifinal teams.
Mount Maunganui will be favourites but there is no way you can right off this Rangataua side so there may well be one more twist in what has been an outstanding club season.
Additional reporting Peter White
Baywide semifinal rugby results:
Baywide Premier 1 Results:
Mount Maunganui Sports 62 Rotoiti 7
Rangataua 24 Tauranga Sports 16
Baywide Premier 2 Results:
Whakarewarewa 25 Arataki 8
Paroa 33 Poroporo 3
Baywide Development 1 Results:
Tauranga Sports 42 Te Puna 37
Mount Maunganui 8 Te Puke Sports 5
Baywide Development 2 Results:
Waikite 22 Poroporo 20
Opotiki won by default
Baywide Division 1 Results:
Te Teko 22 Rangiuru 20
Judea 37 Kahukura 15
Baywide Division 2 Results:
Waimana 51 Matata 5
Murupara 32 Eastern Districts 15