Otago has a tight turnaround to dust off a tough loss.
They slumped to a 38-14 loss to Bay of Plenty in Rotorua and will now have to back up on Wednesday when they play North Harbour.
Otago came out with good intent on Saturday, but were unable to make anything of it.
Instead Bay of Plenty did the damage when they got their hands on the ball, scoring three tries in the opening 15 minutes.
Halfback Richard Judd spotted a gap off the back of their scrum on the 22 to score the first, and the second was a lovely team try.
Lock Justin Sangster made a break up the middle and offloaded to Lalomilo Lalomilo.
He took it up the field and his forwards followed to keep it tight and string together 10 phases.
They finally broke Otago’s strong defence when Manaaki Selby-Rickit went over the top of a messy ruck on the line to score.
Then Cole Forbes picked up the crumbs from Jona Nareki’s kick being charged down, running in a 20m try — more of a hobble after hurting his hamstring mid-run — to add another.
Lucas Cashmore piled on the extras every time and the home side led 21-0.
Otago had no territory to work with during the opening stages and their lineout looked shaky.
But once they got their set piece settled, they were able to use it to their advantage.
Jake Te Hiwi offloaded a nice line ball to Christian Lio-Willie to finally get some movement.
The ball moved through a couple more sets of hands before prop Jermaine Ainsley found space open from a maul to finally score.
They then trailed 21-7.
When Otago held on to the ball, they looked good and they worked hard at scrum time, but they gave Bay of Plenty too many opportunities, falling off tackles to let Selby-Rickit score another.
That gave Bay of Plenty a 28-7 lead at halftime.
The Steamers came out of the break hustling, making a few breaks and putting Otago under pressure.
But Otago scored first. They ball was recycled through several hands before it landed with replacement prop Saula Ma’u.
He charged ahead as four Bay of Plenty defenders tried to stop him, but he was too strong and banged down over the line.
They looked to be in again when Nareki bolted through on a messy ball, but the pass from Ajay Faleafaga was deemed to have been forward.
Otago were much better in the second half, keeping the ball in hand and their replacements had good impact.
Bay of Plenty flanker Naitoa Ah Kuoi was sent to the bin, but still Otago could not break the Steamers.
Instead, Cashmore banged over a penalty to extend their lead then converted his own try just before fulltime.
NPC
The scores
Bay of Plenty 38
Manaaki Selby-Rickit 2, Richard Judd, Cole Forbes, Lucas Cashmore tries; Cashmore 5 con, pen.
Otago 14
Jermaine Ainsley, Saula Ma’u tries; Finn Hurley 2 con.
Halftime: Bay of Plenty 28-7.
