Rugby: Positives to take from effort of shadow Otago side

Tony Brown
Tony Brown
There were some encouraging signs from the shadow Otago team which won a match over a Southland XV at Forsyth Barr Stadium yesterday.

The Otago side, playing as the Sassenachs, beat the Spartans 36-19 after leading 17-0 at halftime.

Players who took part in the Dunedin and Invercargill club finals on Saturday did not take part, which left both sides short of plenty of players.

But the Sassenachs still had too much class against a Spartans team which showed plenty of endeavour but struggled to mount much on attack.

Otago coach Tony Brown said he was pleased with the performance of the Sassenachs.

''It was good to give some guys a bit of footy, as they have not played a lot of rugby lately,'' he said.

''It was just good to get the team together and get them to get out and play and work on some combinations.

''There is still plenty to work on but there were good things to take out of it. I thought our scrum went really well in the first half with Hisa Sasagi and Donald Brighouse and when they went off in the second half the guys who came on, George Bower and Mike Mata'afa, also did well.''

Certainly the scrum from the Sassenachs was totally dominant and the Spartans were in reverse gear all afternoon. Brighouse, who hails from Auckland, looks like a good pick-up for Otago, and he also got round the paddock.

The lineout also impressed and some nice angles were run by the backs. Combinations were, as expected, lacking at times and some of the kicking was aimless but this was a preseason match.

The only worry for Otago was the sight of powerhouse No 8 TJ Ioane leaving the field after half an hour with an ankle injury.

Brown said Ioane had been carrying the injury for a while and kept re-injuring it.

The Sassenachs started well, when second five-eighth Tei Walden scored a try after less than two minutes, finding a huge hole in the opposition backline.

Centre Jayden Spence scored near the end of the half, after a nice Peter Breen inside ball.

Captain Lee Allan dotted down straight after halftime but Southland veteran Bryan Milne scored twice in the second half, running some nice angles.

In between times, Walden made a nice run to set up a try for winger Marshall Suckling while flanker Hadleigh May scored from a rolling maul right at the end.

Those to stand out for the home side were Walden and halfback Nick Ealey, while locks Joe Latta and Jackson Hemopo got through plenty of work. Hookers Sam Anderson-Heather and Ricky Riccitelli were also busy.

The intensity will go up several notches when Tasman comes to visit on Saturday. The ITM Cup is set to kick off for Otago on August 16.


Sassenachs v Spartans
The scores

Sassenachs 36
Tei Walden, Jayden Spence, Lee Allan, Marshall Suckling, Hadleigh May tries; Peter Breen 3 con, pen; Greg Dyer con

Spartans 19
Bryan Milne 2, Afi Peteru tries; Calvary Fonoti 2 cons.

Halftime: 17-0
Crowd: 300


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