Otago pinch it in Nick of time

Otago 24 Waikato 21

A thriller, this match was largely about speed. Waikato No 8 Liam Messam lit up the first quarter with it, Waikato halfback Brendon Leonard showed it to run round a winger to score and Otago first-five eighths Nick Evans turned it on to keep his team in the hunt.

The rugby world is still divided about Messam. Some still see him as a frilly sevens runner who has not yet learned the tradesmen's tools of ball retention and driving play in the dark confines of the rucks and mauls.

Others see him as a loose forward with the ability to do the unexpected - including searing bursts of speed which split defences - and say he is quickly learning the 'black arts' of the 15-a-side game.

On the basis of yesterday, the latter analysis might be right. Messam worried Otago more than any other player and was especially dangerous from broken play with his bustling and bristling running style.

Otago struggled to contain him at times, although his ball security and decisions to pass instead of retain the ball in the tackle let him down a couple of times.

However, it was Messam who emerged from a ruck near Otago's 22, flipped a pass to Leonard, who then set off like the Road Runner.

Leonard impressed for Waikato against Canterbury last week, does a lot of defending round the fringes of the rucks and can run like a frightened greyhound. On this occasion, he swerved around the outside of Otago winger Greg Zampach - pulling a winger's trick on a winger to score through pace and timing.

Zampach made amends with one of the few chances Otago had in a half where they had to scratch around for possession and where the Waikato lineout was performing as efficiently this week as it was appalling last week.

Zampach tore a big hole in the Waikato defence and, when the ball was freed from a ruck a phase or two on, Evans ducked inside a tackle and then seemed to wriggle through two or three tackles. In fact, his acceleration off the mark is such that he fools tacklers as to his exact whereabouts. Jono Gibbes and David Hill, All Blacks both, will be wondering how Evans eluded them to free a pass to flanker Josh Blackie for the try and an 11-7 lead to Waikato at halftime.

Waikato turned up the heat in the second spell, driving powerfully as they had against Canterbury, with only some irritating turnovers at vital moments restricting them.

Then pace intervened again. Messam picked up a loose ball from an untidy ruck and sprinted. He left everyone in his wake, except for a flat-footed Evans who turned on the gas to make a last-gasp tackle.

It looked as though he might have forced Messam's feet out in the corner but the video referee judged the try was sound.

Otago are nearly always stubborn on Carisbrook and Zampach made and scored the next try after a bolt down the left wing. This time, however, it was speed of hand as Evans and Seilala Mapusua shipped the ball quickly and Zampach - at 30, surely the oldest rookie winger in the Air NZ Cup - found a hole in the Waikato midfield big enough to accommodate the Te Rapa racecourse.

At 18-14, the match was in the balance before more speed - this time speed of thought - continued Otago's comeback.

Otago raided down the left side with second-five Callum Bruce prominent. His grubber kick forced Stephen Donald to take the ball out next to his own goal-line.

Otago caught them napping with a quick throw-in, won the ruck and Evans - with more quick thinking - sprinted to the defensive line before throwing a gap pass for lock Filipo Levi to crash over.

Donald kicked a crucial penalty to level matters at 21-21 and then, with the siren having sounded, replacement Sione Lauaki wandered offside at a ruck and Evans kicked the pressure goal to win the match.

Nothing fast about that, you might think - but Evans was so impressive that his re-appearance in the All Blacks is likely to happen with breakneck speed.

Waikato will wonder how they lost this one after being dominant for much of the match.

Gibbes was a real toiler, the front row performed well enough and Marty Holah pulled off one tackle on Blackie that may have the Dunedin man still searching for his ribs. Donald was good value, as was centre Richard Kahui.

They perhaps did not do themselves any favours with their subs towards the end of the game. Lock Toby Lynn went off and, while he looks like Vlad The Impaler and might not be in the first echelon of lineout forwards, he gets through the work of two men in tackling and around the field.

Maybe Waikato missed him in the close-quarter stuff and around the rucks and mauls and the substitutions late in the game might just have robbed them of a bit of oomph at a crucial period.

Otago 24 (J. Blackie, G. Zampach, F. Levi tries, N. Evans pen, 3 con ),
Waikato 21 (B. Leonard, L. Messam tries; S. Donald 3 pens, con).
HT: 11-7 Waikato.