Otago again silenced the roars of the Southland faithful with another victory on Stag Day on Saturday evening.

A spectacular start and a sublime Lucas Casey try propelled Otago to a 41-14 win over Southland in the 250th clash between the great rivals.

Thousands crammed Rugby Park in Invercargill for the NPC’s best day but they mostly had little to cheer about.

Otago were a class above, too skilled and far too physical for a new-look Southland team that offered spirit but not a great deal else at times.

Otago scored seven tries to two but arguably should have scored more considering their dominance at times.

Casey scored twice in another all-action display, unwanted All Black Christian Lio-Willie also had two tries, and effervescent halfback Kieran McClea made a seamless step up from Heartland rugby.

Perhaps the star turn, however, was provided by young fullback Sam Nemec-Vial, who looked super lively and also showed his pace when he twice ran down a Stag threatening to score a runaway try.

It was men against boys in the first quarter.

Otago raced to a 24-0 lead after 23 minutes on the back of a devastating display of pace, offloading and accuracy.

They were irresistible, Southland were reduced to tackling machines, and a horrific blowout appeared to be on the cards.

Early pressure led to a simple opening try to right winger Jae Broomfield.

Two tries in the space of two minutes then threatened to silence the bumper Invercargill crowd.

Jona Nareki made a rollicking break and second five Riley Lucas — a late addition to the Otago starting XV when Jake Te Hiwi was scratched — showed nice strength to burrow over the line.

When Josh Timu poked through a post-turnover kick and regathered himself to score in a goal-line melee, it was 17-0 to Otago and the Stags had barely touched the ball.

Nemec-Vial made a sizzling, Ben Smith-esque break but perhaps botched a try when he chose to cut inside rather than pass to the unmarked Broomfield outside him.

Still the Otago pressure came, and Casey got the fourth try as a reward.

The Stags might be short of star power, and understandably lean on established combinations with so many new players in the squad, but they know how to fight in front of the faithful.

Nic Shearer was the spark for the comeback — he is a devilishly talented little halfback with oodles of spark about him — though Otago were also guilty of some poor decision-making.

The Stags threatened to score after intercepting a Nareki pass but debutant centre Haiyata Taniyama did not have the pace to stay clear of Nemec-Vial.

Finally, Southland got a decent share of possession, and they made it count, big flanker Clem Halaholo pushing off a couple of tacklers to score on debut.

Otago had gone off the boil, punished for a couple of poor lineouts and some harum-scarum attack.

They did, however, have the final say in a first half affected by swirling wind when Lio-Willie sent a message to All Blacks selectors with a nice try.

The second half started with a spectacular score that made all the Casey fans nod their heads and say, yep, that man should be in South Africa.

Southland were hard on attack but got rumbled off the ball. And just like that, 85m later, Casey had his second try.

The star flanker out-ran midfielder Scott Gregory, an accomplished sevens player.

As so often happens, the rest of the game ebbed and flowed, and if Otago never looked like being run down, they did not exactly come home in style.

After Lio-Willie got his second try, the Stags pulled one back from a lineout maul, and the final quarter was all bits and pieces, ineffective thrust versus inaccurate counter-thrust.

Any Stag Day win is to be cherished — and Otago played some wonderful rugby in patches — but the season is long, and last year’s beaten NPC finalists have plenty of room to get better.

Southland, well, they will not lack courage and endeavour. But that was their final, and it was a fairly brutal exposition of the gap between the top and the bottom.

 

NPC

The scores

Otago 41

Lucas Casey 2, Christian Lio-Willie 2, Jae Broomfield, Riley Lucas, Josh Timu tries; Cameron Millar 3 con

Southland 14

Clem Halaholo, Jack Taylor tries; Jimmy Taylor 2 con

Halftime: Otago 29-7.