The irony would not have been lost on any of the 3000 or so spectators who were treated to a wonderful Otago Schools Rugby Championship final at Forsyth Barr Stadium on Saturday.
Southland Boys’ High School put everything into the game. Absolutely everything.
But that effort started to tell late in the piece.
The home side, unbeaten all season, lifted in the final quarter.
McGlashan had trailed 27-17 midway through the second half but scored three tries to win 36-27 and claim the ODT Cup.
Replacement hooker Keegan Ferguson bagged two of them to help set up the win and left winger Stanley McClure had a match to remember. He dotted down three times and is sure to receive a warm welcome at school this morning.
Nervous?
"Oh, absolutely. It was slipping away and time seemed to be going by so quickly. Then all of a sudden we got ahead and it slowed down again," a relieved Lundy said.
"Once we started thinking and doing what we were actually trying to do, we got a bit of a roll on. But Southland took us right out of the game to start with."
The visitors set up camp deep inside McGlashan territory and battered away for the best part of the opening 10 minutes. Hooker Rico Fisher was relentless.
Eventually, the defence cracked.
Southland swung it wide to winger Kiseki Fifita, who got the ball inside to second five-eighth Jerome Buckley-Fa'atoia to score.
Southland probably should have added another when captain Caleb Williams broke through in midfield. He found Buckley-Fa'atoia who got the ball to halfback Tom Nicholson.
Nicholson was dragged down short and McGlashan was able to scramble out of trouble.
Having absorbed an enormous amount of pressure, McGlashan scored from its first real attacking opportunity.
The home team shovelled the ball quickly to the left and McClure dived over in the corner.
McGlashan nabbed another in the same spot. Fullback Charlie Breen got off a deft offload and loose forward Ben Joseph crashed over, to level the score 10-10.
But Williams had a mighty half and made a late break down the right, toed it ahead, scooped up a fumble and scored, to give the visitors a 17-10 lead at halftime.
The home side started the second spell strongly. Breen got the ball on the outside, drew the last defender and got the ball to McClure, who ran around to make the conversion easier.
But Southland looked to have landed a hammer blow when powerful replacement second five Ritchie Kuresa smashed his way to the line
But McGlashan went to work. Ferguson flopped over from lineout drive and barged over from a ruck as well.
McClure scored in the final couple of minutes to complete his hat trick. Matt Whaanga had slipped through the defence and got off a pinpoint pass.
"Those guys that came on really made a difference when we needed it most," Lundy said.
■ In the OSRC middle four final, Dunstan High School scored two late tries to beat Waitaki Boys’ High School 24-22.
King's High School under-15 beat John McGlashan under-16 24-15 in the Colts Cup, one of three games at Forsyth Barr Stadium.
In Oamaru, St Kevin's College dispatched Otago Boys' High School 2nds 38-3 in the bottom four final of the OSRC.
ODT Cup final
The scores
John McGlashan 36
Stanley McClure 3, Keegan Ferguson 2, Ben Joseph tries; Max Hore 3 con
Southland Boys’ 27
Jerome Buckley-Fa'atoia, Caleb Williams, Ritchie Kuresa tries; Mika Muliaina 3 con, 2 pen
Halftime: Southland Boys’ 17-0.
