Canterbury’s chance to earn a consolation prize at the national sevens tournament in Queenstown last weekend was snatched by a late Otago try in the bowl semifinal.

Canterbury was leading at full-time but an Otago score after the hooter meant the Red and Blacks lost 22-19 and were left with nothing.

It was a disappointing finish but coach Ernie Goodhue said his side would have learned many lessons from the weekend.

"We fell off too many tackles, there was too much jersey-pulling. If anything good came out of the weekend, it’s that the players know what it’s all about now," he said.

"A lot of the opposition players were a lot bigger than they were last year. Wellington and Auckland had some big guys and our fitness probably let us down a bit."

Canterbury was in a tough pool and the loss to Wellington (33-10) in the first game was a big knock to the team. Another loss followed against Auckland (22-12) before the Red and Blacks rallied and comfortably beat Otago Country 33-0.

Canterbury beat Southland 17-10 in the bowl quarterfinal before the heartbreaking loss to Otago, who also knocked Goodhue’s team out last year.

Goodhue said Johnny Legg, Willie Heinz, Ryan Hooper, Lloyd Carter, Kieron Fonotia and skipper Ben Nowell were standout players for Canterbury.

North Harbour beat Counties-Manukau 29-26 in a thrilling cup final. Wellington beat Taranaki 38-33 in the plate final and Otago beat Horowhenua-Kapiti 33-10 in the bowl final.