Miter Cup 10: Otago ends 15-year drought to keep Canterbury season on life support

Canterbury’s season is officially on life support after Otago racked up more misery in its crumbling 2020 campaign.

Otago beat their northern neighbors 23-16 in Christchurch on Friday night, their first win against the Reds and Blacks in 15 years.

Not only does it leave Canterbury’s playoff hopes in shambles, but the prospect of relegation for the first time since the competition split into two sections in 2011 is very real.

Fifth in the prime minister position with 19 points, they may well be last in the prime minister position by the end of the eighth round on Sunday.

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Otago wing Slade McDowall landed the knockout blow for the visitors, receiving a pass from Vilimoni Koroi and landing with eight minutes to go.

And so the visitors go to the top of the championship at least temporarily, improving to 6-2 and on their way to landing a semi-final at home.

Canterbury played as a low-confidence team, perhaps not a surprise after the Bay of Plenty brought them down in Tauranga last weekend.

His forwards again struggled to cross the lead line, making his ball runners easy prey for Otago’s defenders when they threw him across the width.

They have now mustered just four attempts in their last three games, and it won’t be any easier with the matches against Tasman and Auckland next fortnight.

Oh, what would they do to have back former captain Nasi Manu, the 32-year-old who played eight seasons with the rojinegros.

Otago No. 8 was huge in the first provincial game in Christchurch since ending Canterbury in 2014, playing a big hand on two of the visitors’ attempts.

Like a baby’s candy, Manu snatched the ball from Canterbury center Brett Cameron and spread it wide to flap Jona Nareki away and drive Sio Tomkinson away.

Canterbury responded through running back Mitchell Drummond to cut the deficit to 11-10, before Manu landed another blow against his former team, this time in the form of a beautiful volley to Koroi.

The fullback went on to score from 40 yards, beating his counterpart Josh McKay with an excellent kick and chase, walking on tiptoe down the touchline.

There was also only one blade of grass, and many in the stands argued that Koroi did step on the chalk.

Cameron responded with a 45-meter drop and a penalty in the 68th minute to tie the game at 16-16, but Canterbury failed to convert a pair of late chances and force overtime after McDowall scored.

Those expecting a rip-snorter match on a warm Christchurch evening would have been disappointed, especially in the first half.

Because outside of the three penalty goals, they got a 40-minute stoppage-start full of errors that bordered on pain.

You would have sworn it was a soggy mid-winter night, given the number of driving mistakes made by both teams.

If Otago wasn’t throwing forward passes or dropping the cold ball, hooker Liam Coltman was cooking lineout shots too much.

But Canterbury was no better.

They made a handful of two telltale chances, the first from Fergus Burke, who missed wide end Chay Fihaki with a cross kick.

The worst was yet to come a moment later, when Burke found a half-space and volleyed Ngane Punivai with an open pleading line.

But he dropped it cold, as the hosts mustered a single Burke penalty goal to counter a pair of 3-pointers by Otago pivot Josh Ioane.

Otago 23 (Sio Tomkinson, Vilimoni Koroi, Slade McDowall tries; Josh John 2 pen, scam) Canterbury 16 (Mitchell Drummond test; Fergus Burke pen, Brett Cameron scam, drop goal, pen) HT: 6-3.