NPC: Otago dominate Northland with 29-10 victory in Dunedin clash

It has been an up-and-down season so far for the Northland Taniwha, with their win against Auckland in August the high point. Photo / Photosport

For those who have long suffered at the hands of the Taniwha over the years, there will be a sense that not much has changed, given the way Otago blew them off the park.

After a mammoth first-half defensive effort, a combination of little things started adding up in the second half for Northland in Dunedin on Friday as they wilted under pressure to lose 29-10 in the Bunnings Warehouse NPC clash.

The hosts didn’t need to hog the ball or dominate across the park because they were good enough to score points when they created half-chances.

They also seemed content to let Northland have the ball – confident that they would soon enough run into a dead end and hand the ball back.

Otago’s talisman and man-of-the-match Jona Nareki was full of running, cutting Northland up on the counter-attack and putting runners into space.

When Nathan Hastie scored Otago’s last try off some scintillating blindside play in which Nareki featured heavily, there was no coming back for the Taniwha – not when they had so little idea what to do with the ball.

While Otago had the uncanny ability to keep the ball alive, Northland drifted back to missing tackles, losing their shape and kicking the ball away.

The hosts were chasing perfection. The visitors were chasing shadows.

They were so outclassed, so easily defeated and so far from playing the way they had in their last three games.

The team were very much in the fight at the breather with both sides tied at 7-7. Otago opted to play at speed from the kickoff and didn’t want to give Northland an opportunity to settle but the visitors had built an impressive defensive wall.

The Taniwha absorbed an early onslaught, dragging a maul into touch before Brady Rush spun Christian Leo-Willie on his back and held him up on the tryline.

A double tackle forced Jake Te Hiwi to lose the ball just 5m away from scoring, adding to Otago’s frustration.

Those were big moments and showed Northland’s technical accuracy when defending their line.

Bruising No 8 Terrell Peita got on the scoresheet for the Taniwha with an intercept just outside the Northland 22 and galloped 70m to score.

Will Stodart slammed the ball down off an attacking scrum in the 28th minute to equalise for the home side before halftime.

Otago came out of the sheds firing on all cylinders and kept hammering away, knowing that Northland were starting to tire a bit.

Ill-discipline crept in and it wasn’t long before Rob Rush got sent to the naughty chair after referee Ben O’Keeffe – one of the best in the business – lost patience with Northland’s repeated infringements.

Jae Broomfield scored straight after off a lineout midway in the visitor’s half, followed by a fortuitous try to Kerikeri lad Lucas Casey against his home province.

On the three-quarter mark of the match, the Taniwha had conceded 10 penalties to the opposition’s two. Just when Northland needed to hold their composure and execute the basics well, they botched two tries in the Otago half that saw them slowly crumble.

Even after building a few phases, Northland would then leave their ball carrier isolated and it was all too easy for the hosts to take back possession. This was a complete performance for Otago – as evidenced by the stats.

Northland made 228 tackles and missed 36 to Otago’s 94 and one respectively. They made 512m to the hosts’ 919m and conceded 12 penalties to Otago’s seven.

The Taniwha have a short turnaround, hosting Wellington in Whangārei on Thursday.