So near, and yet so far. The Colts were in touching distance of a memorable win over North Shore, only for an intercept try in the dying moments to allow the Green and Whites a 30-29 win. He could have been a whisker offside, but the ref ruled in favour of the attacker, and there wasn’t enough time to catch up.

It was a heck of a game, fast, high-scoring and entertaining. Shore started the fastest, taking advantage of a couple of Cote errors and saw them out to a 10-0 lead before Cote started to turn the possession and territory advantage they had into points.

Jared Nathan bulldozed his way over, Potroz Rimoni charged across from a delightful lineout move, Harry Carter touched down, and then Tristan Uhi slipped a pass around a tackler to set Tyler Thomson clear and a 26-15 halftime lead.

But that was the end of the Northcote try-scoring. The second-half defence was primarily strong, but Cote had to do rather too much of it. They couldn’t find a way to spend extended time in the Shore half, and eventually, the continuous defending told, culminating in that soul-destroying try in the last minute. Sometimes life is a b*tch.