Sparkling Otago performance for Shield

Otago replacement winger Henry Purdy dives over to score in yesterday's Ranfurly Shield win over...
Otago replacement winger Henry Purdy dives over to score in yesterday's Ranfurly Shield win over Waikato at Forsyth Barr Stadium. PHOTO: GREGOR RICHARDSON
Put them cowbells away.

In a mauling of the Mooloo at Forsyth Barr stadium yesterday, Otago won 45-35 over Waikato and hung on to the Ranfurly Shield for another week.

The home side showed some real sparkle on attack and never stopped looking to get on the front foot with the ball.

Waikato tried to use its big forwards and powerful scrum but Otago spread the ball wide and found space on the outside to come away the winner.

Waikato was in the match early in the second half when it had a lineout handy to the Otago tryline and was down just 30-21.

But it mucked up the throw and Otago swept downfield. Waikato pivot Fletcher Smith then got himself offside and picked up a yellow card for his efforts.

Otago made the most of the one-man advantage with a nice double skip pass move landing in the hands of right winger Vilimoni Koroi, who showed the speed to score.

An intercept try by replacement winger Henry Purdy with 15 minutes to go put Otago well ahead and though Waikato scored a couple of tries near the end, Otago was the victor.

Koroi was another big factor in the win, showing some nice touches, and was electric with the ball in hand.

Not far behind was first five-eighth Josh Ioane, who kicked well and showed some nice touches on attack.

Up front, lock Josh Dickson and loose forwards Adam Thomson and Slade McDowall ran themselves into the ground and won some key turnovers.

Otago had jumped out of the blocks quickly and was two tries ahead with less than quarter of an hour gone.

The visitors thought they had scored first, when hard-running centre Quinn Tupaea went under the bar after he picked up a loose Otago pass.

He was chased down by Thomson in an impressive turn of pace by the veteran but Tupaea crossed after an exchange of passes.

But a closer inspection showed Tupaea had knocked the ball on when he picked it up.

Otago made the most of the ruling by scoring from the resultant scrum.

It went to Koroi and after a dashing run, he was lowered just short. McDowall picked the ball up and burrowed over.

Four minutes later, Koroi was the finisher as he found some space down the right hand side and squeezed over in the corner after some nice passing inside him.

Waikato had its chances in the opening half but Otago had its third try when a run from Thomson drew in the last two defenders and winger Jona Nareki crossed.

That gave Otago a 20-0 lead with 30 minutes gone and it was all looking rosy.

But Waikato came back into the match in the final 10 minutes of the first half., scoring two tries courtesy of its powerful scrum.

In other matches over the weekend, Bay of Plenty beat Hawke's Bay 51-24 while Wellington beat Northland 57-36, Canterbury beat Counties-Manukau 38-5 and North Harbour beat Manawatu 29-16.

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