Opinion: Should Judea feel hard done by?

Kahukura players celebrate a try against Judea on Saturday. Photo/Ben Fraser

Coin toss a cruel way to go

Kahukura's Division 1 semifinal against Judea on Saturday produced one of the most dramatic endings to a game of rugby I have ever seen.

With the score locked at 27-all at fulltime, the game went into extra time in an effort to decide a winner - 10 minutes each way.

Judea dominated the first half of extra time, but Kahukura held them out. Kahukura dominated the second half, but could not break through. The score was still 27-all after extra time.

There was a lot of discussion on the sidelines about what happens next, there were a lot of theories but nobody knew for sure.

As it turned out, the Baywide competition rules state that in such a situation, the winner is decided by a coin toss. Kahukura picked the right side of the coin and will play in the final next week. Judea's season is over.

For the neutral fan, the finish to the game provided great drama and entertainment, but for the two teams involved it was a strange one.

You have to feel for Judea. They started the season with eight straight losses, but turned things around to make a remarkable run to the semifinals. A full season of blood, sweat and tears was ended by the toss of a coin. It does not seem fair.

For Kahukura as well, it is a slightly hollow victory compared to an outright win and speaking to coaches and players afterwards, they were not quite sure how to react.

It seems a cruel way to decide such a big game and I feel there are better options. There are multiple other ways to decide a winner, such as who scored the first try of the game, who won when the teams met in the round-robin or who finished higher on the table.

That being said, both teams had their opportunities to ensure the game didn't get to that point. Kahukura turned down multiple shots at goal during extra time, which is easy to critique on hindsight, but the opportunities were there.

To their credit, Judea were admirably gracious in defeat. Knowing there was nothing they could do about the rules, they congratulated Kahukura on making the final and will turn their attention to next season.

They should be proud of the rugby they played on the day and the way they handled the outcome.