Promotion will have to wait for Otago.
The Whalers were comprehensively outplayed by the Auckland Vulcans in the National Championship final in Auckland on Saturday.
A spot in the Premiership was up for grabs and the Vulcans had too much class for the visitors, winning 48-10.
Standoff Dylan Tevita’s kicking game in damp conditions created havoc at the back for Otago.
Tevita also slipped in for the first try, while centre Mike Williams had a blockbusting match out wide.
Whalers captain Ricki Allan told Sky Sport his side had pinned its hopes on a strong start.
"We knew they were going to be stiff opposition and our only real chance was to get out of the gates and really put it to them," he said.
"But unfortunately that sort of fell a wee bit flat and we found ourselves chasing the game for the rest of it.
"We were a wee bit disorganised out there today.
"When things didn’t going our way, we could have calmed down and refocused, but the game got away on us."
Allan added there were some young players in the team who would be back for a shot next year and would be better prepared for it following what was otherwise an excellent season for Otago.
The visitors’ defence was caught napping early. The Whalers were not able to reset quickly enough and Tevita crashed over in a tackle that arrived too late.
Auckland was getting more out of its tackle sets. Hooker Marcus Fraser made a lovely run, and Tevita put in a grubber for Siapo Pasene, who scooped it up and dived over in one motion.
An awful defensive blunder by Piliu Tavake gifted Auckland another. The winger was being dragged towards touch a metre from the Whalers’ try line, so opted to place to ball before being pulled across.
All Kapeli Esera had to do was pick it up and dot it down.
Jayden Hollander clawed one back for Otago. He made a snipe from dummy half and slid over.
That hard work was undone quickly. Esera sold a dummy to the outside defence and strolled in.
Auckland was playing with a lot of confidence and halftime could not come quickly enough for the visitors.
Otago trailed 22-6 at the break and needed to strike first.
That did not happen. Tevin Arona had a chip partially charged, but it fell nicely for the Vulcans and Arona was on hand to take the pass and score under the posts.
Sam Wyber pounced on an in-goal mistake by the Vulcans, but the Whalers were exposed out wide moments later and conceded another try.
The game was over as a contest with 30 minutes to go.
Otago did not have an answer for Tevita’s kicking game and gave up too many points that way, though a nicely executed grubber was almost impossible to defend in the conditions.
Auckland threatened to reach 50 points, but the game lost some shape in the final 10 minutes.
In the Premiership final, the Akarana Falcons beat the Canterbury Bulls 48-4.
Championship final
The scores
Auckland Vulcans 48
Kapeli Esera 2, Dylan Tevita 2, Siapo Pasene 2, Tevin Arona, James Watersom, Mike Williams tries; Arona 5 con, Tevita con
Otago Whalers 10
Jayden Hollander, Sam Wyber tries; Mackenzie Haugh con
Halftime: Vulcans 22-6.
