The Steel’s comeback to beat the Pulse — scoring seven unanswered goals — and win the ANZ Premiership was a victory for the ages. Sports editor Steve Hepburn looks at five comebacks from southern sportsmen in recent years.
Otago beats Wellington
rugby, 2015, 37-36
Otago had no ball, no territory and it seemed no hope in this provincial match against Wellington. The side was 13 points down with less than 180 seconds left on the clock. But somehow it got up.
Big flanker Naulia Dawai went over and then from the kick-off, lock Tom Franklin made a break. He passed on to Matt Faddes who raced away to dot down. Peter Breen converted to give Otago the most unlikely of victories.
Otago beats Auckland
cricket, 2008, seven wickets
In the change of innings at the State Shield final in Auckland, the men in blue and gold may not have had the tastiest lunch.
The Volts were chasing 311 after Martin Guptill had hit a century and Scott Styris a breezy 68.
Otago then lost Aaron Redmond early. Things looked grim. But a certain young man from South Dunedin was there and Brendon McCullum proceeded to break numerous records in scoring 170, off 108 balls. Craig Cumming hit 86 and Otago got home with an astonishing eight overs to spare.
Nuggets beat Giants
basketball, 2012, 97-93
The Otago Nuggets had lost 17 straight games to the Nelson Giants so history was not on their side. Trailed early and then got into some shooting woes. A Nuggets shot to win the game right on time did not make it and the game went into overtime. Imports Antoine Tisby and Akeem Wright then got into the action and were fouled twice in the dying seconds to steal victory.
Southern Utd beats Waitakere
football, 2017, 2-1
If this had been a boxing fight, Southern United would have lost heavily on points. But the aim of the game is to finish ahead on the scoreboard and nothing else matters.
Waitakere went 1-0 up after 70 minutes and dominated the whole game. But Southern United equalised in the 90th minute through Danny Furlong and then, three minutes later, Furlong scored again to complete what was an absolute mugging of the men from out west.
Highlanders beat Cheetahs
rugby, 2017, 45-41
The Highlanders had risen from the dead before in Bloemfontein, staging a great win over the Cheetahs in 2012. In 2017, the visiting side was all over the pace and trailed 41-24 with less than five minutes to go. Coach Tony Brown admitted afterwards he had given up and was looking ahead to next week. But the Cheetahs were down a man and a quick couple of tries led to a chance for the visiting side. The Highlanders worked the ball down the field and, after a couple of attempts at the line, the ball went out to the right and winger Waisake Naholo scored to complete a most remarkable fightback.
