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Otago makes shaky start
to title defence
Whangarei: All Black first five-eighth Tony Brown kicked three penalties
from near halfway, and would have landed a fourth but for a John Eales-like
save by Northland flanker Alan Tubbs, as Otago made a shaky but successful
start to the defence of its NPC first division championship title in Whangarei
on Saturday.
Otago made the most of its chances to win 21-14 but Northland, thanks to
a supreme effort by the Glenn Taylor-led forward pack, had the upperhand
for most of the game and also provided the game's big talking point with
Tubbs' leap. Tubbs was suspended by team-mates in mid-air just in front
of the posts and stretched well above the crossbar to make a two-handed take
just as the ball was about to sail over the bar. He then hit the ground
running and tore 40m up-field to set Northland on attack.
Otago was decidedly scratchy but pounced on Northland errors to score two
tries, one inside the first 30 seconds of the game by left wing Romi Ropati
and the other by second five-eighth Pita Alatini following a charge down,
which, together with Brown's long-range goals, got it home. But its scrum
was under pressure from the outset and much of the passing among the backs
was loose, with fullback Brendan Laney, having one of his more erratic days,
throwing passes beyond the reach of his wings.
Halfback Byron Kelleher fired out long, snappy passes but, with the Otago
forwards on the back foot, neither he nor Brown had the freedom they craved.
Lock John Blaikie and No 8 Isitolo Maka had their moments, with captain
and flanker Kelvin Middleton, who did a superb job in holding things together,
the only Otago forward to show his class. Northland's points came from
a try to loosehead prop Nick White, a dropped goal by centre Norm Berryman
and two penalties by fullback Hayden Taylor. Middleton said afterwards
that Ropati's try after 30 seconds had lulled Otago into a false sense of
security. "It was anything but easy. They came out firing, took it
to us and really showed us a thing or two," Middleton said. "We're incredibly
happy, as we know we were lucky, to pick up the four points, but that's the
only thing we're happy about."
Otago, with the wind at its back, opened the scoring after Northland hooker
Jason Hammond, trying to run the ball out of his 22m, was hit in a solid
tackle. Otago won the ensuing ruck and Kelleher sent Ropati careering over
in the left hand corner. Brown's attempted conversion was charged down
by wing Dan Parkinson. A few minutes later, Northland advanced into
Otago's 22m and centre Norm Berryman nonchalantly popped over a dropped
goal.
By this time, Otago was starting to feel the heat from the Northland pack.
Northland almost scored under the bar but Otago conceded a penalty,
which Hayden Taylor kicked to give Northland a 6-5 lead. Brown replied
with three first-half penalties to give Otago an eight-point buffer and a
14-6 lead at the break. Taylor's second penalty, moments into the second
half, closed the gap to five points. Then Blaikie split the defence with
a blistering burst up the middle and, from a scrum near the Northland line
soon afterwards, Middleton charged the clearing kick by Northland halfback
Sam Pinder. The ball ricocheted to Alatini, who scored unopposed. Brown's
conversion gave Otago a 21-9 lead and it seemed content to sit on its 12-point
lead.
For the remainder of the game, however, Otago was on the back foot and did
well to concede just the one try, which went to White after Ropati went for
an intercept. During the last five minutes Hita, the Northland second
five-eighths, got across the line three times only to be called back by the
referee.
On the first occasion he made a slight knock on in try to pick up the ball
5m from glory, the second time the scoring pass he received was marginally
forward and then he was ruled to have knocked on in goal.
Score: Otago 21 (Romi Ropati, Pita Alatini tries; Tony Brown 3 penalty
goals, conversion), Northland 14 (Nick White try; Norman Berryman dropped
goal, Hayden Taylor 2 penalty goals). Half-time: Otago 14-6.
Match statistics: Scrums: Otago 14, Northland 13; Line-outs: Otago 15, Northland
12; penalties and free kicks: Otago 10, Northland 8.
Crowd: About 3500.
Referee: Glenn Wahlstrom (Auckland).
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