Otago pays for lack of composure, inaccuracies

Otago lock Josh Furno tackles Bay of Plenty No8 Jess Parete with Bay of Plenty players in support...
Otago lock Josh Furno tackles Bay of Plenty No8 Jess Parete with Bay of Plenty players in support (from left): replacement halfback Luke Campbell, and locks Keepa Mewett andTroy Callander, at Forsyth Barr Stadium on Saturday. Photo: Linda Robertson
Otago is on the outside looking in.

Otago lost 36-28 to Bay of Plenty at Forsyth Barr Stadium on Saturday and the result has left it sitting one place outside the Mitre 10 Cup championship playoffs. It all comes down to next weekend but Otago can no longer control its destiny.

Otago was its worst enemy on Saturday, blowing several golden scoring opportunities, missing some vital tackles and failing to get continuity going. It scored three tries but should have scored at least double that but it was just not accurate enough.

There were lots of dropped balls, hurried passes and a lack of composure from the home side.Otago coach Cory Brown said the side was disappointed with its performance.

"There was just too many errors and missed opportunities. We had three or four times where we were close to scoring but it didn’t happen. Unfortunately you just can’t do that at this level," Brown said.

"You just have to nail them. They deserved to win but we made them look a bit better than  they  were. We were just a bit off in a lot of areas. The energy was just a little bit low. We left a few holes out there and they got a couple of lucky tries."

Brown said the preparation perhaps could have been better during the week and would be something to look at this week.

The side’s final game before the playoffs start is against Southland under the roof on Saturday.

"We just have to win against Southland and see what happens. We can just control what we can control and hope we are in the top four.

"We are not going to get a home semi now. That is very annoying and the boys are disappointed with that."

He did not want to use the excuse of plenty of injuries for the side.

Halfback Josh Renton was pulled from the team because of a sore Achilles hours before kick-off and Kurt Hammer made his debut for Otago, coming on late.

There was little between the two sides but Bay of Plenty made fewer mistakes and held on to the ball better.Otago led 15-13 at the break but conceded a couple of tries in the second half to be down 29-21 with 10 minutes to go.

A cross-kick from Josh Ioane then led to a Matt Faddes try and Otago was down by just the one point. Otago, though, could not control the kick-off.  Bad ball security was the story of its day, and Bay of Plenty swept down the field to seal the game through a try to replacement halfback Luke Campbell.

Best for Otago was flanker Dillon Hunt and prop Craig Millar, while former Otago lock Tom Franklin was abrasive as ever, having a running battle with the Otago forward pack.

In other matches, Northland beat Hawke’s Bay 34-7, Southland was thrashed 61-12 by Wellington, Tasman comfortably dispatched Auckland 31-18 and North Harbour scraped past Waikato 13-11.

 

Mitre 10 Cup
T
he scores

Bay of Plenty      36

Hugh Blake, Terrence Hepetema, Joe Webber, Chase Tiatia, Luke Campbell tries; Mike Delany 3 pen, con

Otago                   28

Fletcher Smith, Jona Nareki, Matt Faddes tries; Josh Ioane 2 pen, con; Smith pen, con

Halftime: 15-13 Otago
Crowd: 3500

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