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Otago lost their 10 Miter Cup Championship semi-final 32-19 to Northland last night at Forsyth Barr Stadium.
In a game with a lot of effort and without much precision on the part of either team, Northland did enough to win the game.
The home team never reached top speed at any stage of the game and fell apart in the final minutes.
The hesitation, which has been there for Otago in their last two games, was evident to all.
The passes didn’t quite stick, he beat well at breakdown and there were too many careless mistakes.
The home team was up 19-18 after Josh Ioane put Sio Tomkinson under the bar just after the hour, but Otago came undone in the final minutes.
First, Northland running back Sam Nock scored, after a poor tackle from Otago, and then, just in replacement for death, loose forward Matt Matich went over.
Otago was appalled at the loss and although he could not be blamed for effort, his execution was halted and there was a lack of combination.
Northland was strong in the break even though there was a lot playing the man rather than the ball.
He caught his fair share of turnovers but, when Otago chained a few turnovers together, he looked dangerous.
The problem was that those occasions were few.
The best for Otago were prop Josh Hohneck, padlock Jack Regan and winger Jona Nareki.
The team will now be stuck in the Championship for one more year, although there is talk that the whole structure of the competition will change.
Otago was not in the races in the first 20 minutes of the game.
He did not get a decent continuity in his game and discipline went out the window.
After Ioane missed a useful penalty (40 yards out and straight ahead), Northland scored a soft try.
The ball went wide and winger Jone Macilai found some space.
Then he simply crashed into Otago fullback Michael Collins, threw a dummy that everyone bought, and galloped closer to score.
Johnny Cooper then added a penalty five minutes later and Northland had a 10-point lead.
However, Otago returned to the game in the second quarter as he won more ball.
Finally, the pressure said it.
Although Northland managed to force a rotation under the shadow of his posts, he messed up the punt when a kick was charged.
The ball fell into Nareki’s hands and the livewire winger beat three Northland defenders to cut and score.
It was an opportune moment for Nareki to score his first try of the season.
And then after the halftime horn sounded, Otago had a 5-meter lineout from the line.
But he found no reward on the drive from the lineout.
The ball went over the baseline and center Josh Timu shrugged off two tacklers and led two Northland defenders over the line to score.
Ioane, who was struggling with the boot, managed to land the practice conversion to give Otago a 12-10 lead at halftime.
Miter 10 cup
Scores
Northland 32
Joane Macilai, Jordan Oisen, Sam Nock, Matt Matich try it; Johnny Cooper scammer, 2 pens; Wiseguy Faiane 2 with
Otago 19
Jona Nareki, Josh Timu, Sio Tomkinson try it; Josh Ioane 2 with
Half time: 12-10 Otago
Crowd: 2500
