The loss to Tauranga Sports cost the Papaka an expected home semi to defend their title and will not find any joy in the reception to come at Rotoiti. Tauranga Sports miss the playoffs for the first time since 2005.
Te Puna and Greerton Marist again failed to make the playoffs but have plenty of young talent to help them make the step up next season. They have both produced some of the best attacking rugby this season.
At Blake Park on Saturday, it looked like an easy finish for the Mounties when form first-five Matt Golding dropped a goal to put his side up 32-10 deep into the match.
That signalled a clean-out of the benches and a change of tactics from Te Puna to stop kicking the ball away aimlessly.
In quick succession, they scored three tries to close the gap to 32-29 but with the last seven-pointer coming in injury time, there was never any thought the Mount would lose it.
Still, the fightback from Te Puna was commendable with captain and Steamers prop Jeff Thwaites leading by example.
Mount coach Rodney Voullaire defended his decision to bring on some inexperienced players in the final 15 minutes.
"You never step back against Te Puna. They are a great team. Look at some of the top players that are there and some of their top players who weren't there today. It could have been a different story," he said.
"But I had an opportunity to bring on a couple of young boys to experience this type of footy. When you have a lead like that sometimes it is a good idea to put those guys on to experience that. Obviously they will be looking at themselves, going 'this is a big step up'."
The game was won in the first half when the Mount led 26-5 after Sam Mayes, Uliti Uilou, Isaac Te Aute and Liam Steel dotted down.
"To get those four tries before halftime was a good thing for us. That way we played is the way we have been playing all year. It is just about trying to get it out for that 80 minutes," Voullaire said.
