Otago combined power, pace and pluck to pummel Wellington 61-22 at Forsyth Barr Stadium on Sunday night. A small crowd of 2070 were treated to some delightful running rugby by the home side. The scrum was solid and the lineout, which has been a talking point for all the wrong reasons, was back on track. Winger Jona Nareki did something magical every time he got near the ball. Flanker Lucas Casey got his fend going. Halfback McClea’s support play was exceptional. And Otago defended with tenacity. It was a good outing for the home side, and they get to keep the Mike Gibson Memorial trophy. Otago showed off their attacking flair immediately. They made a couple of threatening breaks down the left and capitalised on the early field position. Nareki scored in the corner. It was nice and simple, really. Just quick hands shovelling it along the line as quickly as possible to the dangerous winger. If that blow was not enough, Wellington lost the services of their best player. Classy loose forward Du’Plessis Kirifi left the field for an HIA and did not return. But the visitors had got on the front foot and Jackson Ropata slipped a beautiful offload to Reo Matsushita, who got around Sam Nemec-Vial to score. Otago responded with a cracker. They tossed it wide again. Some of the offloads were equal parts stunning and bonkers. Casey got the ball about 20m out and powered over as he does. The tries kept coming. This time right winger Jae Broomfield burgled a five-pointer from close range in the left corner. Nareki had put in an excellent grubber and Otago won it back. Broomfield barrelled over like a front rower. Wellington was back huddling under the post five minutes later. Otago captain Christian Lio-Willie burst off the back of a scrum and slipped a pass to Jake Te Hiwi, who ran 60-odd metres up field and rolled a pass over the top of a defender to McClea. It was champagne rugby by the home side, who went into the break leading 26-8 and with a four-try bonus point in the bank. Wellington dominated the early stages of the second half. They launched a series of raids and were repelled time after time. Nareki kept popping up wherever a tackle had to be made. Wellington eventually got across the chalk. Replacement loose forward Dominic Ropeti reached over from a ruck. But Otago had way more strike power. Centre Josh Timu set up a try for Nemec-Vial with a wonderful handoff. Replacement lock Harry Irving barged over against his old side, and Nemec-Vial finished off a nice move from a scrum. This one was done. NPC The scores Otago 61 Sam Nemec-Vial 2, Jona Nareki, Lucas Casey, Jae Broomfield, Kieran McClea, Harry Irving, Josh Whaanga, Slade McDowall tries; Cameron Millar 8 con Wellington 22 Reo Matsushita, Dominic Ropeti, Caleb Delany tries; Cameron Burgess pen, 2 con Halftime: 26-8
