Otago have stormed into the NPC semifinals with a convincing 50-14 win against Hawke’s Bay at Forsyth Barr Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

They dominated the forward exchanges and had more composure in the big moments.

Cameron Millar ran a tight ship at first five in his 50th game for the province.

The front row can all take a bow. That scrum is a weapon.

Halfback Kieran McClea was a ball of energy.

Blindside Oliver Haig made two very important intercepts.

It was arguably Otago’s best performance this season.

Northland shapes as a likely semifinal opponent.

The Taniwha edged Tasman 26-21 in Whangarei on Friday night and Taranaki powered to a 50-31 win against North Harbour in Albany on Saturday afternoon.

Canterbury host Waikato in the last quarterfinal on Sunday.

If Canterbury win, Otago will head north to play Northland in the semifinal.

If Waikato manage an upset, Otago will host Taranaki and Waikato will make the trip to Whangarei instead.

Whoever they get, they will be confident following this performance.

They made a brilliant start.

Lucas Casey broke the line. Kieran McClea made a nice dart.

They turned that field position into points.

The captain, Christian Lio-Willie, muscled over from the back of a powerful 5m scrum. Cameron Millar added the extras.

They very nearly had a second. Sam Nemec-Vial set off down the touchline, chipped ahead but got hammered in a heavy tackle just as he collected the ball.

It did not matter a jot. McClea scored moments later.

He made another dart from the base of a ruck, skipped out of a tackle and his pace carried him to the line.

The crowd of 5132 reached full voice again when Finn Hurley slipped a pass to big Joseva Tamani, who galloped up field like a bull making a dash for an open gate.

The move was snuffed out, and Hawke’s Bay countered with a slick try to Folau Fakatava.

Nic Benn broke down the left and Fakatava stayed in support.

Otago struck straight back.

They won a scrum penalty, hoofed it up field and set up a lineout drive.

That broke down, but tighthead Saula Ma’u barged over anyway.

Hawke’s Bay went searching for a try before the break. But they let themselves down with some poor handling.

The last thing they wanted was to give Otago more scrums.

They were under enormous pressure in that phase and conceded a penalty in the final moment of the half.

Millar lined it up from 51m out and nailed it with a little help from the post.

Otago led 24-7, which was both handy and scary. They led the Magpies 24-14 in Napier earlier in the campaign but lost 35-24.

Hawke’s Bay launched a promising attack down the blindside early in the second spell. But Haig picked off a pass and stamped out the danger.

It was a big turnover in the context of the game.

Otago got possession back, swung on to attack and hooker Henry Bell flopped over from a lineout drive.

Tamani got himself 10 minutes in the bin for playing the ball on the ground while desperately trying to stop Fakatava from scoring.

Jacob Devery had burst through and got the ball to Fakatava, who had the ball knocked out of his grasp while trying to ground it.

The referee awarded a penalty try.

The contest suddenly had legs again.

That was until Haig grabbed another intercept and Otago pounced. Jona Nareki put through a well-weighted chip and Nemec-Vial dived on it to score.

 

NPC quarterfinal

The scores

Otago 50

Christian Lio-Willie, Kieran McClea, Saula Ma’u, Henry Bell, Sam Nemec-Vial, Joel Lam, Harry Irving tries; Cameron Millar 5 con, pen, Patrick Pellegrini con

Hawke’s Bay 14

Folau Fakatava try, penalty try; Harry Godfrey con

Halftime: 24-7