Otago cruised to a 41-26 win against North Harbour in Dunedin this afternoon.
The Ranfurly Shield might take a few more victory laps around the province in the next few weeks, but the Otago Rugby Association can essentially lock it up until next season.
The team can now concentrate on winning the NPC, and there is a sentence that probably would not have been written at the start of August.
Coach Mark Brown has helped transform a team of perennial underachievers into a legitimate title contender this season.
The glorious 38-36 win against Canterbury last week confirmed that ability.
Today’s clinical display against the winless North Harbour just added another layer of expectation.
The biggest crowd of the season — some 5821 fans — were treated to a perfect start from Otago.
Josh Timu put Sam Gilbert into a hole from a set piece move and halfback Dylan Pledger loomed up in support and scored between the sticks.
North Harbour responded with a nice try in the corner and Mark Tele’a picked off a pass from Pledger and ran 50m to score.
Otago were rocked but rediscovered some composure.
And the crowd erupted when veteran hooker Liam Coltman, playing his 100th game for Otago, drove over from a lineout drive in the final act of the half.
The 10m line was remarked as the 100m line in appreciation of Coltman’s long service.
Otago led 21-14 at the break and they dominated the opening exchanges in the second spell but could not find their way to the chalk.
That was until the home team had a dart down the blindside and Jona Nareki got a cracking offload to Lucas Casey.
The openside flanker dotted down for his seventh try of the season.
Then somehow Pledger dived on a chip kick in time before it rolled dead in goal. The smart money was on the ball winning the race. Pledger beat the odds there.
North Harbour kept battling, though, and Sofai Notoa-Tipo chased down a grubber and scored in the corner.
Otago looked gassed and Harbour scored again. This time Tom Barham finished off an incredible try.
The crowd could see that Otago needed a lift and cheered loudly as they made their way back to the halfway for the restart.
Cameron Millar added two late penalties to seal the win.
