IT was a game the Inverell Highlanders thought they could afford to lose, but devastation came on Saturday when the Narrabri Blue Boars crossed the line at full-time.
The Highlanders, who were positioned in second place on the Central North ladder, were pipped at the post when the Blue Boars gained that crucial try, stopping the home team from getting the bonus point to keep them one ahead going into the finals.
They will now play the Moree Bulls in the minor semi-final at Rugby Park this weekend where the equation remains simple - they need to win the next two games to earn a spot in the grand final.
The Highlanders started strongly on Saturday - compared to their last few games - and scored twice in the first half (Simon Newton and Chad Makim) with Russell Brien getting the conversions and also kicking two penalties.
But the Blue Boars kept in the game scoring a penalty and two tries, one of which the conversion was unsuccessful, leaving the Highlanders in front 20-15 at the break.
The Highlanders came out in the second half rearing to go again and gained the first points from a penalty booted by Brien.
But it went down hill when the Blue Boars managed to get the ball down and the margin became 23-20.
From that point the Blue Boars managed to maintain most of the possession and after a few close calls scored a controversial try.
The Blue Boars then managed to gain their crucial seven points when the ball was booted into touch and the lineout that followed allowed them to create a rolling maul to get an attack at the line.
President Damon Scoble said those final seconds were devastating for the club.
"We did think that we would've been able to maintain second position with our for and against points, but after checking the rule book, it went on how many games both teams had won and they were one up on us because we drew with Moree earlier in the season," Scoble said.
"But we will just have to do it the hard way now and the boys will really need to play for the whole 80 minutes.
"We had huge improvement in the first half but we couldn't continue on that and that's were it went wrong.
"Fergus McIntosh, Dave Kearsey and Russell Brien all had really good games.
"Russell actually kicked his 300th point for the season during the game which was terrific for him."
In the reserves, the Blue Boars were too strong 41-26, the U-19s lost 19-5 and the U-17s had victory 24-5.
After the first grade game, the 1912 coloured jerseys the Highlanders wore for the match were auctioned off.
"We made about $5000 for the Salvation Army, the Inverell Pipe Band and the Lawlor family which was great," Scoble said.
"We are now hoping we will have a huge home crowd this weekend to help us get through against Moree."
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