Otago has suffered their first loss of the 2012 ITM Cup, going down 31-19 to a more powerful Bay Of Plenty side. It was a game in which Otago never really got going, playing rugby that was too disjointed for the team to to gain any momentum.
Time after time the strong Bay Of Plenty forwards would hold up the Otago runners, tying the ball up and ensuring it was turned over. The body positions of the Otago players were too high and support was too slow getting there, making the job of the defenders relatively easy.
While this can happen, it was the fact that they didn't seem to learn from their mistakes and persisted in the same way that made it a frustrating watch.
It was this that ensured Otago were never able to get a flow on in the second half and gave their opposition too many chances to attack close to their line. The result was three tries to Bay of Plenty and relatively few attacking chances for Otago.
To go with this, the side was too ill-disciplined and conceded far too many penalties to let the game flow. Although both teams were guilty of this, it was Otago that felt the impact the hardest, losing TJ Ioane for ten minutes midway through the second half. In this period Bay of Plenty cashed in, touching down for two tries enabling them to take control of a game that had been evenly poised.
Otago fought back well in the last ten minutes, but with the score at 31-12 it was too little too late and the consolation try to Tony Ensor had little effect on the game. In this period Otago played their best rugby of the game, running strongly and looking to get on the front foot rather than just going wide.
While using the backline should be encouraged, it needs to be used in the right way and Otago weren't doing this for the majority of this game.
Too often they looked to go wide too early and almost stretched themselves too far so that they were running out of room and flirting with the sideline. With such a dangerous backline, it's inevitable that they will look to use them, but they still have to ensure they get on the front foot first and look to attack through the middle rather than going wide every time.
This prevented any of the backs making a real impact on the game, although Ben Smith and Buxton Popoalii were both dangerous when they got their chances.
Tamati Ellison tried hard with the limited chances he got, whilst the young halfback Brad Weber looked good when he was brought on. Weber has an extra dimension to his game in that he is dangerous runner, whereas Fumiaka Tanaka hasn't looked to snipe at all in his two appearances thus far.
Having a running halfback gives the defence something more to think about and draws the players in, creating space out wide. It was perhaps this that saw Otago begin to find more space in the final ten minutes.
The best of the forwards was Paul Grant, who ran strongly all night and always got the team on the front foot.
Others to impress were Rob Verbakel who worked hard, whilst Sam Anderson-Heather was physical and did plenty too. But as a collective the pack was too inaccurate and were simply out-muscled by an opposing team who played a smarter brand of rugby.
It's a long season though and there's plenty of time to smooth out the rough patches. The team will now travel to Invercargill, where they will take on Southland in the southern derby match next Thursday.