Taranaki 31
Otago 27
A strange night at the 'Brook.
At halftime, Otago were taking a firm step towards the Air New Zealand Cup quarter-finals, up 22-7 and the margin could have been even greater but for sloppy handling and over-eagerness costing the hosts dearly.
Taranaki had not
won at Carisbrook since 1986 and by halftime they seemed dead, their playoff hopes fast evaporating.
Their defence had been clueless, Otago rattled on six line breaks, the backs enjoying more space than an astronaut.
Taranaki lacked commitment in the tackle and their attacking moments, few as they were, lacked much spark, save fullback Asalemo Malo's superb solo effort to equalise Craig Newby's early effort.
Perhaps there was something in the halftime fruit juice, and no doubt plenty of sting in the words of their coach Adrian Kennedy, but Taranaki emerged for the second half armed with Otago's urgency and took charge.
They ran in four second half tries, some of them outstanding, with second five-eighths Jayden Hayward a key figure. Taranaki simply ripped the game away from Otago, who had moved from livewire to lifeless in a matter of minutes.
Speedy wing Paul Perez got two tries, flanker Scott Waldrom the important fourth which put Taranaki in front for the first time.
The teams went into the match in ninth and 10th spots and desperate for the win. Five points covered six teams at the start of the round.
As it transpired, Taranaki, consigning that 22-year Carisbrook drought to history, are right in the hunt; Otago, away to Waikato and home to Wellington in the next fortnight, appear all but gone.
