Representative rugby The scores North Otago 34 Joji Rinakama 2, Mac Harris, Ben McCarthy, Paea Fifita, Corban Agar tries; Rico Muliaina 2 con Otago Country 22 Harry Walker-Leach 2, Brayden Laing 2 tries; Laing con Halftime: North Otago 24-5. North Otago and Otago Country will be all the better for their clash as they move on to their respective competitions. It was a cliched game of two halves in the preseason encounter, with the Old Golds holding on to beat Otago Country 34-22 in stunning conditions in Oamaru on Saturday. North Otago had a strong first half, leading 24-5 at the break, before Otago Country stormed back into the game. Both teams will have got what they wanted out of the clash, testing combinations ahead of North Otago’s Heartland Championship campaign and Otago Country’s entry to the Tuppy Diack Shield. Otago Country wasted little time getting on the board. Tyler Ford swung a skip pass out to winger Harry Walker-Leach, who put his foot down to finish. Old Golds centre Mac Harris made a couple of bruising breaks early and put halfback Billy Wilson into space inside, but he was dragged down short of the line. After a couple of rusty passages, North Otago found their groove. Shifting wide, flanker Mitch Morton drew in two defenders and offloaded to Joji Rinakama, who put in a little step for an easy finish. The Old Golds squandered a couple of chances close to the line but eventually found their second. Harris bumped off two defenders to score and give North Otago a 10-5 lead. They added another quickly. Rico Muliaina hit the line at speed, catching the Country defence off guard, and gave it to Ben McCarthy to finish. Muliaina added the extras for the Old Golds to nudge ahead to 17-5. Otago Country finally got their hands on some decent ball. When they got their backs in space, they showed their pace but still could not finish. Muliaina made a stunning break, weaving around the back of the defence. The Old Golds shifted wide and their forwards made some strong carries before Rinakama broke the line and Paea Fifita scored. It gave North Otago a 24-5 lead at halftime. Otago Country had a good start to the second half. They were camped in the right parts but just could not break through. Corban Agar, who was robust all game, scored the first points of the second half to give North Otago a 29-5 lead. Otago Country strung together a good passage. They kept the ball in hand, let their forwards do the work and scored a try through first five Braydon Laing. North Otago went to work and Wilson kept them rolling forward, shifting the ball quickly after some strong carries. It set the platform for Rinakama to sneak through for his second. Otago Country winger Jack Blair had a mad 60m dash, but chipped it too far forward. But Laing scored soon after for Country to trail 34-17. It was a much better second half from the visitors, while North Otago ran plenty of substitutions to test their combinations. North Otago lock Epineri Logavatu was yellow-carded for a bad tackle and Otago Country scored immediately through Walker-Leach. • Otago Metro teams had contrasting wins in the opening round of the Tuppy Diack Shield on Saturday. Metro South pumped Southland Country 73-24 in the Stag Day curtain-raiser. Second five Justin Malifa scored five tries for Metro South. Otago Metro North pipped Southland Metro 38-31 in the other game.
