Replacements share praise for valiant but vain fightback

Otago replacement loose forward Sione Teu charges for the line to score in his side’s clash...
Otago replacement loose forward Sione Teu charges for the line to score in his side’s clash against Tasman at Forsyth Barr Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Tasman players (from left) James Lowe (Tasman), Peter Samu and Finlay Christie are unable to stop him, while team-mates (from left) Jono Ruru and Josh Furno are in support. Photo: Gregor Richardson.

Otago is about to enter its tough period and it has casualties but will be buoyed by the depth in its squad.

The side is about to play three games in 11 days after coming off a tough loss to Tasman, going down 29-27 at Forsyth Barr Stadium on Saturday night.Tasman led 22-13 at the break and pulled out to 29-13 early  in the second half through a penalty try.

Otago, though, kept battering away and though the accuracy was not quite there at times, it scored tries through centre Sio Tomkinson and replacement No8 Sione Teu to have a chance with three minutes left.

But it coughed up the ball and referee Mike Fraser somewhat controversially called fulltime.

It was a gallant fightback from Otago and coach Cory Brown paid tribute to the bench players and those who lifted the team in the second half.

"I’m really pleased with the guys who came off the bench and those who stayed on in the second half who got us back into the game. They gave us a real good opportunity to win it there. It was a huge effort in that second half.

"I thought we were a little bit flat in the first half. We lost the territory battle in that first 40 minutes. They played in the right parts of the field and were putting us under pressure a lot of the time."

Brown said the side’s depth came through to get it back in the game.

"We’ve got a really competitive squad and sometimes guys do not get a start but we always use our bench. The guys who came on, picked up the speed of the game and got us back into the game. Sometimes momentum goes away from you, like it did in the first half, and we managed to get it back again."

Tasman roared out of the blocks and was up 15-3 inside 15 minutes. Otago came back with a nice try and it was close at 15-13 after half an hour.

Big Tasman centre Levi Aumua then pushed off five tacklers to score to put his side well ahead at the break.

Tasman then skipped clear when Josh Ioane was judged to have illegally tried to stop a pass. He was yellow carded and Tasman was awarded a penalty try.

Tasman skipper Alex Ainley was yellow carded after 53 minutes for some loose rucking. Then Aumua was red carded for an ugly tip tackle on Otago loose forward Adam Knight.

Otago had the advantage of 15 on 13 for more than five minutes but could not score any points.Brown admitted the side probably did not make enough of the numerical advantage.

The side will now face Auckland under the roof on Thursday night, followed by Northland in Whangarei on September 27 and Wellington in the capital on October 1.

Flanker Dillon Hunt left the field in the first half with a head knock and hooker Sam Anderson-Heather took a blow to the shoulder.

Lock Josh Dickson suffered a head knock in the warm-up and was forced to withdraw minutes before kick-off. Blair Tweed came into the starting side and Tom Rowe, who had already played 80 minutes for Otago B earlier in the day, was summoned on to the reserves bench, though he did not get on.

In other games at the weekend, Manawatu beat Waikato 23-10, Counties-Manukau downed Hawke’s Bay 33-14 and Wellington thrashed Canterbury 60-14.

 

Otago v Tasman
The scores

Tasman                 29 

Will Jordan, James Lowe, Levi Aumua tries; penalty try, Mitch Hunt 2 con, pen

Otago                    27

Tei Walden, Sio Tomkinson, Sione Teu tries; Fletcher Smith 3 con, 2 pen

Halftime: 22-13 TasmanCrowd: 4000

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