Otago will take on Bay of Plenty at Forsyth Barr Stadium in a Mitre 10 Cup semifinal on Friday night as it looks to make the most of finishing top of the championship division.
It is the first time since the new two-division structure of the national provincial championship started in 2011 that Otago has placed top of the championship, and with it it will enjoy home advantage for the two weeks of the playoffs.
The cards fell the right way for Otago over the weekend and for that it can thank evergreen Waikato inside back Stephen Donald.
Donald scored a try for Waikato in the last five minutes of his side’s match against Wellington to win the game.
Wellington was leading 24-21 with five minutes left but could not hold on.
If the men from the capital had won, it would have qualified top but it only picked up two bonus points.
Otago finished top on 34 points with Wellington two points back.
North Harbour beat Northland 44-28 yesterday to finish third (26) and Bay of Plenty (23) defeated Hawke’s Bay 26-24 on Saturday, bagging a bonus point on the way.
When teams are tied on points in the competition, the side that won the match between the sides goes ahead.
Manawatu paid dearly for its loss to Otago on Friday night, being tipped out of the playoffs after the two teams behind it — North Harbour and Bay of Plenty — both grabbed wins over the weekend.
Bay of Plenty tied on points with Manawatu and won the match between the two last week.
Some of the statistics that came out of the match between Otago and Manawatu in Palmerston North on Friday night showed what a great defensive effort it was from the men in blue and gold.
The Otago side, which won the game 21-14, made 204 tackles in the game compared with 56 by Manawatu.
The home side racked up 148 breakdowns compared with 37 from Otago.
Manawatu carried the ball 188 times while Otago carried the ball just 61 times.
Those statistics show what an outstanding performance Otago put on without the ball, but it was an effort that will have tired the side.
It had the weekend off and will start training again today.
It will be looking to bring back lock Tom Franklin, No 8 Paul Grant and winger Jack Wilson for the game on Friday night.
Loose forward Lee Allan, outside back Tony Ensor and lock Josh Dickson all picked up concussions last Friday night and will be monitored this week.
The other semifinal in the championship, Wellington taking on North Harbour, will be played on Saturday afternoon in the capital.
The semifinals of the Mitre 10 Cup premiership will both be played on Sunday.
Counties-Manukau will venture south to take on Canterbury in Christchurch while Taranaki will host Tasman in New Plymouth.
In other games over the weekend, Counties-Manukau beat Canterbury 33-21 in Pukekohe and Tasman smashed a limp Southland side 56-0.
