Boxon secure playoffs place despite loss

While their Under 15 team may have won the club's first Manawatu league championship, Whanganui Boxon's senior team had a few anxious moments regarding their own tilt at success on Saturday.

Boxon were trying to make it to the top three to play in their first Premier league playoffs series but were put down by the Kia Ora Warriors 34-12 in their final round robin game.

Club chairman Craig Campbell said Kia Ora had wanted the game more and deserved the win.

Nonetheless Boxon's record of three wins and three losses, which includes a default, after the Manawatu competition split into Senior and Premier grades was enough to see them make reach their target.

In finishing third they scraped in to the Premier playoffs in only their second year of existence.

The team will now have to travel to play this season's bogey team - the Linton Cobras, with the winner going on to the grand final.

In April, Boxon were humbled at Linton Army Camp, losing 62-4, their first and worst defeat of the season.

In the return fixture on June 22 Boxon had the better of the first half before a 17-point buffer slipped away in the dying moments for them to lose 18-17.

Campbell said that however next weekend went, the club was proud of the team for making their first finals series after previously reaching their goal of just qualifying for the Premier league earlier in the season.