Rugby: Dunedin denies Southern to claim banner

Desperate and courageous defence helped Dunedin win its 10th premier rugby banner at Carisbrook on Saturday.

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Dunedin won the Speight's championship shield when it beat Southern 11-10 in a gripping final that was in the balance until the final whistle.

• Video: Dunedin wins club final

It was tense championship rugby and the Dunedin supporters in the crowd of 3000 stood as one and cheered their team when referee Ross Barnett blew for full-time.

The hero for Dunedin was No 8 and captain Scott McKee, who won his second championship banner.

McKee played a key role with his ability to break the advantage line by taking the ball up after the Dunedin scrum had been pushed backward.

He combined with Tim Fraser and Jon Crossan in a fiery loose forward trio that dominated the breakdown and kept the pressure on Southern.

Dunedin dominated possession in the first spell and looked to have the game under control when it led 11-0 at the break, though in the early exchanges, the powerful Southern scrum had pushed the Dunedin eight backwards and threatened to take charge.

The strong Dunedin line-out, headed by lock Michael Gurran, began to starve Southern of ball, which allowed Dunedin to take the upper hand.

Gurran had an outstanding game and won eight clean takes to give his side a three-to-one advantage in the line-outs.

He was also powerful on his marauding runs.

Dunedin nabbed two takes off Southern throws in the first spell, one of which, by Gurran after 23 minutes, led to the first try.

Winger Tumua Ioane and halfback Fraser Lau attacked down the short side and Gurran was up in support to toe the ball over the line for the try.

Lively counter-attacking fullback Robbie Smith added penalty goals after 30 and 35 minutes to give Dunedin an 11-0 advantage at the break.

A rejuvenated Southern team attacked from all quarters in the second spell, getting on the board through a penalty to halfback Joe Burford before closing the gap to just one point after centre Lucky Mulipola scored the best try of the game, on the 54-minute mark.

He beat four defenders on his 55m run to score under the bar.

McKee knew that the game was in the balance and called his team into a huddle while Burford added the extra points.

"I barked out a few orders," McKee said.

"We had to dig deep on defence and be clinical. We couldn't afford to miss tackles and give away penalties in our own territory."

The Dunedin plan had been to move the targets wider with the pick-and-go and drive to keep the bigger Southern pack on the move.

While it executed the plan to perfection in the first spell, when its forwards were in control, it was unable to maintain the accuracy and intensity for the first 25 minutes of the second spell, when Southern took charge.

McKee knew Southern was capable of snatching a last-gasp win if it could gets its hands on the ball and launch an all-out attack in the last five minutes.

"We couldn't afford to lose our cool or panic at that stage," McKee said.

"We just had to hang on to the ball and keep it close with the pick-and-go as we worked our way downfield."

McKee's words had the desired effect on his team-mates, who defended desperately to deny Southern further opportunity to score.

Another key Dunedin player was Lau, who tested the opposition with his probing kicks over the top and his harassment around the fringes.

Prop Warren Moffat and No 8 Cam Goodhue were the best of the Southern forwards, and Burford, Mulipola and fullback Apelu Alapati were an attacking unit in the backs.