Patience at the end
With 90 seconds to go the scores were tied and Otago had the ball in their own half. A lot of teams would have tried to work some magic from there, throwing the ball around and trying to create a long range try. But Otago stayed composed, kicking the ball as they had done all game and backing their defence to apply enough pressure in poor conditions to force a turnover. They did just that, then had the patience to keep plugging away in the tight, and doing so with accuracy, knowing that eventually the defence would yield. It was outstanding and something a lot of teams would not have been ambitious and patient enough to pull off.
Seiuli's influence in final two tries
Everyone knows Aki Seiuli is a handful with ball in hand, but it was the intelligence he showed to complement this, and the way he combined with Kaide Whiting, that was the difference for Otago. His first try saw him start on the blindside, then spot a gap close-in on the open. He ran a great angle around the back of the ruck straight at that gap to go through and score. Ten minutes later, after over 20 phases, he did the same thing, running the angle from the blindside which attracted the attention of three Taranaki defenders. That created a gap next to the ruck, which Kaide Whiting spotted and went straight through.
A game that suited Otago
The game was played in atrocious conditions and as a result, was a fairly tight, scrappy affair. It was a real contest and one in which defence, patience and hard work were keys. The dynamic impact players, that Otago lack and Taranaki are loaded with, were not able to have the same influence and Otago's pack of workers got the job done. When it came to support they were outstanding, getting over the ball quickly and matching the physicality of the defending champions. The likes of Liam Coltman, Craig Millar, Charlie O'Connell and Tom Franklin all flourished and amongst others, were key in the win.
One-off mistakes still costly
Of the four tries Taranaki scored, three of them came from Otago mistakes, whether directly or indirectly, and the fourth came from a piece of bad luck. The first two were straight missed tackles which initiated sequences the defence could not recover from. In the second half a poor kick put Taranaki in a position to counter and eventually forced Otago to scramble and put the ball out five metres out from their own line. That provided Taranaki with the field position to create a try out wide. A slice of bad luck had a hand in the third try, when Matt Faddes touched a kick that went out, giving Taranaki field position which eventually resulted in the cross-kick try to Cody Rei. Taranaki did well to exploit these openings, but again it was a few slip ups from Otago which saw them give up the majority of their points.
Playing to the conditions
The conditions were obviously not great and Otago did a good job of playing to them. They kicked from inside their own half, not particularly well to contest, but well enough to play the game at the right end of the park. In the opposition half they kept it tight, making use of forward runners and pick and go to try to apply pressure, going into contact in pairs to ensure they kept the ball. The set-piece was solid, with the lineout and rolling maul being executed well. It is funny how the maul can seem so great when it is your team benefiting from it, although we probably do not want to encourage it too much. They played an intelligent game and in the second half, brought the energy and got the field position which enabled them to cash in and score four well-worked tries.
