Otago sneak into top four
Thu, 21 Aug 2008 12:22
It wasn't pretty, but it was effective - as Otago managed a 22-8 Air New Zealand Cup win over lowly Counties-Manukau in Auckland on Friday.
The three-tries-to-one win saw the men from the south continue their recent march up the standings and they will be in third place ... for at least 24 hours.
But it wasn't a performance that would have give the coaching staff much confidence, as the numerous handling errors and poor options resulted in the game never reaching any great heights.
The biggest plus to come out of the game for Otago, in what was their first trip to the North Island this season, is that they have now managed three victories in four outings.
Counties-Manukau would look to their improved defensive effort as a positive - having conceded 109 points, including 16 tries, in their last two matches.
While Counties rarely threatened to score tries of their own, not allowing the visitors a four-try bonus point is already a huge step up for a team still stuck at the bottom of the table.
The first half produced three tries - two to Otago and one to the home team - as the visitors took a 12-8 lead into the break.
Counties-Manukau scored first through flank Fritz Lee, who burrowed his way over the tryline in the 16th minute after Niva Ta'auso was held up just short of the line.
Otago responded three minutes later when Counties-Manukau failed to control a kick from first five-eighth Chris Noakes, which was latched on to by Aaron Bancroft, who flung out a long pass for his left wing Karne Hesketh to score in the corner.
Woeful defence then gifted Otago fullback Glen Horton his team's second try in the 27th minute, when he entered the line and brushed off three weak tackles to dot down.
Noakes then eased over a penalty seven minutes into the second spell to move Otago out to a 15-8 advantage - which they were unable to build on until the 78th minute, when lock Ross Kennedy scored their third try against a tiring defence.
The scorers:
For Counties Manukau:
Try: Lee
Pen: Cummings
For Otago:
Tries: Hesketh, Horton, Kennedy
Cons: Noakes 2
Pen: Noakes
Teams:
Counties Manukau Steelers: 15 Siale Piutau, 14 Lelia Masaga, 13 Niva Ta'auso, 12 Dean Cummins, 11 David Raikuna, 10 Tanner Vili, 9 Samisoni Fisilau, 8 Gary Saifoloi, 7 Fritz Lee, 6 DJ Forbes, 5 Andrew Van der Heijden (captain), 4 Jamie Chipman, 3 Jayden Murch/Eugene Beneke, 2 Lance Po-ching, 1 Simon Lemalu.
Replacements: 16 Ilaisa Maasi, 17 Eugene Beneke/Rob Katu, 18 Rupeni Nasiga, 19 Viliami Fihaki, 20 Romi Ropati, 21 Kevin Farrell, 22 Sherwin Stowers.
Otago: 15 Glen Horton, 14 Lucky Mulipola, 13 Brett Mather, 12 Aaron Bancroft, 11 Karne Hesketh,
10 Chris Noakes, 9 Toby Morland, 8 Steven Setephano, 7 Craig Newby (captain), 6 Seko Qaraniqio, 5 Tom Donnelly, 4 Ross Kennedy, 3 Ben Nolan, 2 Jason MacDonald, 1 Keith Cameron.
Replacements: 16 Peter Mirrielees, 17 Jed Vercoe/Sam Hibbard, 18 Paul Grant, 19 Eben Joubert, 20 Sean Romans, 21 Daniel Bowden, 22 Ben Smith.
Referee: Josh Noonan
TMO: Matt Stanish
