But as one disgruntled Kaikorai fan said when the final whistle sounded, "We’ll get them in the final."
And maybe they will.
The game certainly had that quality.
Neither side gave much away on defence.
Taieri had to work hard for its 8-5 lead at the break.
Caleb Leef opened the scoring with a penalty in the 20th minute. It was scant reward for all the effort the Eels had put in.
Kaikorai kept finding ways to rebuff the attack. Having absorbed an enormous amount of pressure, the Demons took the lead when prop Philip Taua-Ah Soon crashed over from a lineout drive.
It was completely against the run of play.
Powerhouse No 8 Semisi Tupou Ta'eiloa carried the ball forward in another devastating run. He has an exceptional ability to stay on his feet no matter how many tackles are on his back.
Halfback Charlie Marsh made a nice dash as well and the end result was a penalty which Kaikorai kicked to touch to set up said lineout drive.
But Taieri snatched the lead back late. Bob Martin threw a nice skip pass to Josh Whaanga and he strolled through gap on an angled run to the line.
It was a bit of a defensive blunder by Kaikorai. The Demons had rushed up and missed their mark.
The second half was every bit as big an arm wrestle except it was Kaikorai who dominated territory and built pressure.
Ta'eiloa bashed his way over from a 5m scrum to put his side in front 12-8. And the Kaikorai forward pack went hunting for another but were thwarted by some tenacious defence and a crucial fumble under the posts.
The Eels finally got some ball in the red zone with three minutes to go and probed the defence looking for a half a gap.
They found room on the outside where replacement winger Chicayne Giblett slipped over in more or less the final play of the game.
Taieri prop Cam Allan-McNeill put in a big shift and the Whaanga brothers Matt and Josh looked likely out wide, while Martin distributed well.
For Kaikorai, Ta'eiloa had a lot of help up front from locks Harrison Morton and Oscar Graham and loosie Hayden Michaels tackled everything.
Fullback Oliver Foote and second five George Thomas enhanced their reputations.
At Miller Park, Green Island prevailed 26-6 against the struggling Alhambra-Union.
AU has conceded more than 50 points in its three previous games, so the Broncos are making some progress.
They conceded three second half tries, though.
Dunedin survived a second-half rally from Harbour to edge the home team 29-27 at Watson Park, while Zingari-Richmond conceded a late penalty to lose 25-24 to University at Logan Park.
