In my preview on Friday I commented "the unjust defeat to Hawke's Bay has taken the steam out of us and we will limp to an embarrassing defeat." Unfortunately I was correct and the only bright spot on the night was that we didn't surrender and cop a second-half thrashing. It says a lot for the morale within the team although the first half performance highlighted our weaknesses all too well.

After possession and multiple phases ended in a "holding-on" penalty (which we often seem to do as we run out of ideas), the next 25-30 minutes were a nightmare. Iron Man Junior Polu limped off within minutes of the start and was joined by winger Ben Smith. So a reserve half-back and a rejigged backline at the start of the game. Our lineout was hopeless again and the scrum was either being monstered or giving any penalties and points.

From 6-0 after 15 minutes or so, we conceded three quick tries and it was almost game over. The first try came about after Harbour kept the ball alive and their half-back Tuigamala just had to outpace Ted Tauroa to score. From there our defensive line fell apart and many tackles were missed. Harris ran through Josh Hall (as many Harbour players were, hopefully this was due to Hall's injury) and fed Lucky Luke McAlister to score and I have blanked the third try - I know it was scored by Tuigamala but it just looked so inevitable I think I had my hands over my eyes by that stage.

Josh Hall off with injury and Nigel Hunt to half-back, Zar to right-wing. Luckily Hunt played pretty well for the remainder of the game. Bay had a chance to get points near the end of the half but turned down a kickable penalty for a lineout which naturally they lost. With half-time almost up they turned down another kickable penalty choosing a quick tap, pretty crazy stuff. 25-0 at half-time and we were lucky to get nil.

I expected the Bay to come out firing in the second half and they did. Maybe the lack of expectation freed the shackles a little and suddenly we were running the ball from everywhere. Delany was unstoppable, numerous times he seemed penned in but with a couple of sidesteps he would be in the clear. Toby Arnold also showed what he can do, holding the ball in 2 hands ready to pass but waiting for a slight gap in the line before scooting through.

Unfortunately most of this helter-skelter play came to nothing as we yet again showed no ability to finish a break. Our support runners never seem to be in the right place and if we take the tackle, we cannot get quick ball or go wide when we need to. So in the end, our only try was yet another forward drive finished by Retallick, the one area where we have been successful in scoring tries. The trouble is we need a functional lineout and scrum to set up these opportunities.

The big Harbour lock was sinbinned after our try was awarded having assualted a Bay player who hadn't caught the ball but we failed to take advantage of it, conceding a penalty at this time, Harbour's only second half points.

So that's it, the semi-final dream is over and we have a trip to Manawatu and a final home game against Taranaki to determine if we finish near the top 4 our closer to the bottom 4. We really need more depth to compete at this level over a full season and that depth is hard to build when nearly every season, we lose our best players overseas. We could do more to manage bringing young players through, and the loss of Ruki Tipuna was a terrible mistake when you see him performing so well for Wellington.