Eastern Districts agonisingly close to winning senior reserves final

Devon McNaughton goes over for a try.

Eastern Districts came agonisingly close to taking out this season's Farmlands Western Bay of Plenty Senior Reserves competition on Saturday.

ED finished second in the table after the round-robin games, their reward a trip to Katikati's Moore Park to meet the side that finished top.

With 10 minutes to go, ED had one hand on the trophy, only for their hearts to be broken by two late tries to the hosts, who scraped home 25-24.

Eastern Districts' club captain Simon Cook said the team was gutted to lose, especially by such a small margin.

"The boys will regroup and be back stronger for the experience next year and will look to drive towards winning next year and getting the club back into division 1 in what will be our 60th year as a club," he said.

As there was no promotion and relegation in 2020, even winning the final wouldn't have seen that goal achieved.

"The ultimate aim for us is to go up into division 1, so having gone through and lost this year, that will probably help us build and give us a bit more determination for next year. So at the end of the day it might not be the worst thing in the world for us."

Devon McNaughton opened the scoring for ED by kicking a penalty after 10 minutes, with Katikati responding almost immediately with a converted try.

McNaughton kept his side in touch with two more penalties before Katikati scored their second five-pointer with a smart blind-side move.

ED scrum half Dave Ahoafi crashed over for Eastern District's first try on 35 minutes to make the score 14-12 to the visitors.

A period of intense pressure saw ED camped on Katikati's line as half-time approached.

They looked to have crossed only for the referee to rule that the ball had been held up over the line.

With 40 minutes almost up, McNaughton extended the lead to 17-12 at the break.

Katikati closed the gap to two with the first points of the second half.

Two ED attempts to add points with the boot — a drop goal and a penalty — were missed before McNaughton broke from a ruck to skip through the defence and dive over for a five-pointer.

The conversion made it 24-15 — but two Katikati tries in the final seven minute gave the hosts the win.

The club has a proud tradition as a strong, competitive club and Simon said it would be nice to see ED back among the district's top clubs.

He said the club prides itself on being a family club and that was shown with plenty of familial connections in Saturday's squad of 22 — brother pairings Todd and Ben Shaw, Hone and Huriwaka Raihania, Simon and Paul Rolleston, Wade and Jared McKenzie as well as Ringo Edmonds, his son Paul and his nephew Paige.