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Southland Boys’ had too much pace, ambition and quality out wide for Otago Boys’ during the annual interschool fixture at Littlebourne yesterday.
The visitors led 15-5 at the break and cantered to a 33-10 win.
Otago Boys’ had their moments up front.
Powerful loosehead Paul Veituna made some strong carries and the home team launched some devastating drives off their lineout.
Hooker Charlie Hore got in the boot of a maul to score in that fashion early in the second half to cut the gap to 18-10.
Lock Fabian Eschenmoser put in a solid shift.
But Southland Boys’ ran in three more tries to pull away and win comfortably.
Most of their success came through just passing the ball along the line to where there was an overlap.
That happened far too often from the Dunedin side’s point of view.
Southland Boys’ did the basics really well, but also showed a lot more adventure than Otago Boys’, who were content to hit the ball up close to the ruck and play to their strengths.
Arguably, they won the melee in close but got punished out wide.
The Southland Boys’ midfield combination of Finn Hurley and Caleb Harvey created problems.
Harvey scored a brilliant individual try when he ran around the defence and scored in the corner.
He also possesses a very decent fend.
Fullback Jack Brock popped up where he was needed and scored two in the corner.
Winger Charlie Byrne was lively as well.
The match doubled up as a South Island Boys’ Schools game.
Otago Boys’ were leading the overall interschool 10.5 to 3.5 with just the First XI hockey left to play.