KEY POINTS:
Auckland unveiled some future stars as they comfortably retained rugby's Ranfurly Shield in Oamaru today.
They scored 16 tries to overwhelm North Otago 113-3, their second shield defence of the season after beating Poverty Bay 54-3 last week.
Winger Jarek Goebel scored four tries and centre Winston Stanley
and lock Dean Budd managed three each at Centennial Park as the Air NZ Cup holders illustrated the wide gap between a team of professional players and a side made up of amateurs sprinkled with semi-professionals.
Auckland first five-eighth Lachie Munro kicked 12 conversions from 13 attempts and added a dropped goal for a personal haul of 27 points.
Despite being the Heartland Championship's Meads Cup holders, North Otago could not match Auckland anywhere on the field and remained on the back foot for most of the game.
They threatened Auckland line only twice, both times in the second half after Auckland had emptied their reserves bench and lost their rhythm and structure temporarily.
At one stage Auckland threatened to overhaul their 139-5 shield win over the same opponents in 1993 when winger John Kirwan scored a record eight tries.
A combination of the maximum personnel changes made by Auckland in the second half after leading 73-3 and North Otago's determination to keep the scores down kept that record intact.
Former All Blacks midfielder Isaia Toeava showed his class from fullback as he breezed past North Otago defenders to assists in at least six of his team's tries.
But the eye-catching performances came from Auckland's rookies, wingers Goebel and Mapa Tuipulotu, Budd, openside flanker Peter Saili and Stanley.
"They didn't look like new players, it just shows the depth teams like Auckland have," North Otago coach Mike Mullins told NZPA.
"We were just trying to keep the scores down in that second half but the boys had a go at them a few times and we were unfortunate to lose the ball twice on the line."
With Goebel scoring the opening two tries, his first in just the first minute, Auckland led 21-0 after only five minutes.
"They were brutal at the start, we couldn't even lay our hands on the ball in the first 10 minutes," North Otago captain Ross Hay said.
Auckland had scored 10 tries by halftime and Munro had converted all of them and added a dropped goal.
"We were under pressure from our coaches to improve on last week," Auckland centre Ben Atiga said.
"We lost the ball a lot last week and this week we wanted to do the basics well. Our handling wasn't bad today, but we did drop a few passes here and there, so we have to look at that again.
"Overall, I think we can be happy with that performance."
- NZPA
