Bowral Blacks finals hoodoo against Kiama continued on Saturday with the first grade side losing the preliminary final 30-14 at Camden.
The 16-point loss ends the Blacks premiership hopes, with Kiama and Shoalhaven to meet in next Saturday's grand final at WIN Stadium in Wollongong.
The score was not a true reflection of the closeness of the game, although Blacks co-coach Craig Clothier admitted Kiama were simply better on the day.
"There was certainly no lack of intensity, there was certainly no lack of commitment as far as defence was concerned, but it's fair to say they were too good on the day, they made the most of their opportunities and that was it," he said.
"For 80 minutes they were the better side than we were and at the end of the day there wasn't much in it, I don't think the scoreline's quite fair but I think at the end of the day they were the better 80 minute side than us and we probably missed our opportunity [to make the grand final] last week."
Kiama got off to a great start and had all the momentum and decisions go their way early as they skipped away to a 17-0 lead through tries to prop Darryl Thomas (2) and winger Marc Smith.
But the Blacks showed the sort of spirit which has marked their season and by halftime they got the score back to 17-14 with replacement halfback Rob Taylor getting both tries.
The second half was a dour affair with both sides refusing to budge from their commitment in defence and it wasn't until midway through the half that more points were scored, with Kiama fullback Ryan Gunning kicking a penalty goal.
About five minutes later Gunning slotted another penalty to give his side a crucial nine-point buffer.
Then with less than ten minutes to go Kiama got another penalty within kicking range, but instead of taking the three points, they went for the line and soon after Thomas pushed his way over the line to bring up an unlikely hat trick.
Bowral tried hard to get back into the game, but the pressure of the situation got to them with their passes going to ground and balls dropped which they normally would have taken.
"We worked hard to get back into the game and until they really scored that last try I though we well and truly in the game," Clothier said.
"Our control was still good and I think more than anything perhaps our execution let us down just at crucial stages, so we found ourselves in situations where we lost control of the direction of the game and against a side like this in a sudden death situation it comes down to your control of where you are on the field and what you're doing with the ball in hand.
"At this time of the year execution is everything, all the sides are so close, this semi-final series proved how close the sides are, they made the most of thier opportunities, we didn't it and it comes down to that."
Kiama captain James Patrick gave credit to the spirit of the Bowral side, while also congratulating his team on their hard work to secure the win.
"We had a few good opportunities to get on top of them but they just kept coming back and never gave up, you don't expect them to. Very happy for the boys, but disappointed for Bowral, I've got a lot of friends there."
Among the best players for Bowral was late half replacement Taylor and five-eighth Sam Hindmarsh, while back rowers Troy Ingrey, Mick Krebs and Andrew Cummins all worked tirelessly.
The Blacks second grade side also went down, 25-15 to Shoalhaven, but there was some joy for the club in third grade with Bowral defeating University 19-15.
KIAMA 30 (Daryl Thomas 3, Marc Smith tries; Ryan Gunning 2 conversions, two penalties) def BOWRAL 14 (Rob Taylor 2 tries; Cameron James 2 conversions).
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