Bo Abra's National Rugby Championship title dream ended in a nightmare with his Canberra Vikings side thrashed by the Western Force 41-3 in Saturday's final at the UWA Sports Park.
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Playing in their third decider in five years, the silverware again eluded the Vikings after they were, rather ironically after producing a stunning second half fightback to earn a spot in the finale, blown away in the second half.
Speaking to The Leader heading into the game, Abra said his side was confident they could pull off an upset win on the road. And at half-time they were every chance with the Force holding a slender 7-3 lead after what was a see-sawing first half with neither side willing to give an inch in defence.
But the second half was a different story with the Force opening up the throttle and running in five unanswered tries.
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"We're pretty disappointed. We came over here looking to win and got beaten by the better team on the day," half-back Ryan Lonergan told The Canberra Times.
"They beat us at pretty much every aspect of the game, starting with their set piece."
As he has since the Vikings' round four loss to the Force, Abra started at No.1 and will, despite the result, take a lot away from the experience.
