Taihape captain Rimu Wipaki A ragged cheer went up around the Taihape Premier side's dressing room after their bruising 21-12 home derby win over Utiku Old Boys on Saturday.
It was not for the match itself another spirited but scrappy affair where three players were sinbinned and Taihape let Utiku get a sniff of a chance with back-to-back tries midway through the second half.
Instead, the word had filtered through that Marton, who had a superior points differential, had just squeezed past Kaierau at the Country Club but were without the necessary bonus point to oust Taihape right at the death from their fourth placed spot.
Kaierau were now too far back to pinch that position either and as expected, with only 15 regular Premier players still standing, had no interest in coming up to Memorial Park on Sunday for a now meaningless catch-up game.
Taihape will go to Ohakune this Saturday for their semifinal match-up against Ruapehu, although they will be without coach Kerry Whale at the helm as he is off overseas this week.
Sitting with a welcome beer, captain and try-scorer Rimu Wipaki could reflect on his relatively young team lifting themselves to an ultimately deserved playoff berth despite an uneven Round Two.
"That was the goal at the start of the year and we sort of stumbled along the way with four draws."
Taihape seemed to have matters well in hand come halftime after two smartly taken tries and fullback Luke Whale being consistent with the boot.
But when lock Fraser Bryant was sent to cool his heels for putting the slipper in, Utiku found another gear.
"There's always things to work on and the defence was all right, but we let them in twice," said Wipaki.
Utiku's backline, which aside from centre Jason Coffee had lacked for penetration, now cut loose out wide to set up flanker Brad Anderson and reserve back Nick Bodley going over in the far corner.
But the neighbouring club were destined to get no closer as the final quarter, much like these team's first encounter, degenerated into a messy affair of dropped ball, miss-kicks and key turnovers.
Ultimately, it was Taihape's forwards who carried the day, driving Utiku off their own scrums, while the cellar dwellers also made a hash of their own lineouts.
"We were terrible, first half," said disappointed coach Gavin Thompson, who had hoped to avoid the wooden spoon so his team could at least have a chance at the consolation semifinals.
Thompson was also fed up with the refereeing as both hooker Mark Logan then lock Josh Hegglin got binned while the game's stop-start nature was punctuated by the whistle.
While earning a bonus point would have seemed the scheme from the get go, Taihape used their best asset as Whale opened their account with a penalty.
Despite their share of territory, Utiku's pack could not gain traction, and soon Wipaki was being driven over by his men.
Taihape then spread to speedster Jaye Flaws, and adjusted to the other side as a cut-out pass found centre Cyrus Paringatai to put Tottman over the line.
Whale added two more penalties on either side of the break and that semifinal berth was looking assured at 21-0.
Instead, after an Utiku burst took them close, Bryant was sent for a breather and Taihape went to sleep Anderson driving over following the lineout.
Desperate, Utiku threw it everywhere and Danny Smith got free on the outside, sending Bodley over in the corner.
Neither side could get much momentum thereafter, Taihape did work a lineout play to send Wipaki over again, but it was called back for a forward pass.
Taihape 21 (Rimu Wipaki, Marcus Tottman tries, Luke Whale 3 pen, con) bt Utiku OB 12 (Brad Anderson, Nick Bodley tries, Te Rangi Tapu McLeod con). HT: 18-0.