Trent Renata 5.5/10: Put up some good high kicks early while Counties-Manukau were looking into the sun. Was tidy and covered well at the back.
Jayden Spence 7.5/10: The pick of the Otago backs on attack, ran hard at gaps and took good options as to when to hold and when to pass.
Michael Collins 6/10: Covered well and was on attack, while being relatively safe defensively.
Tei Walden 5/10: Dropped a couple of balls but was generally pretty solid. Delivered the pass to allow Aki Seiuli to score and handled a dangerous Counties-Manukau midfield well on defence along with Collins.
Fa'asiu Fuatai 6/10: Did not get too many chances, but tried to create with what he got. Did well to finish his try and generally covered for a missed high ball well.
Hayden Parker 7.5/10: Kicked well, finding space in behind the opposition defensive line and giving Otago good field position. Passed nicely too, putting the likes of Spence into space out wide and made one good run.
Josh Renton 6.5/10: Passed well and looked good when he decided to snipe. Did enough on defence too, slowing down the Counties-Manukau forward runners to give the looseforwards time to arrive.
Charlie O'Connell 7/10: Toiled away the whole game and was never far from the action. Made his tackles, got to the rucks and carried the ball.
James Lentjes 6.5/10: Was particularly prominent early on, defended well and got his hands on the ball. Did well slowing the opposition ball down at the breakdown.
Lee Allan 6.5/10: Fast around the field, getting to rucks quickly and made his usual truckload of tackles. Pushed the envelope a bit and was perhaps slightly on the wrong side of the line, but for the most part was fairly good.
Tom Franklin 7/10: Good in both the tight and loose, adding physicality in close and making tackles in the open too.
Joe Latta 6.5/10: Another quality performance and has stamped his mark on the second lock's jersey. Ran the ball hard at the line on attack and tackled aggressively.
Hisa Sasagi 5/10: Got around the field well, making a couple of good runs and tackling. Was under pressure in the scrum though against a big Counties-Manukau pack.
Liam Coltman 5/10: Was good around the field, showing his strength in the tight and was probably unlucky to be penalised at one stage. Got a couple of crucial lineout throws wrong though and unfortunately that was costly.
Aki Seiuli 6.5/10: Ran a great line to score a try from a nice set-move, while also being prominent around the park carrying the ball and tackling. Was part of a scrum that struggled in the first half, but managed to hold up in the second.
Sam Anderson-Heather 7/10: Made an impact upon coming on. Just gets involved in support play and carries the ball strongly.
Donald Brighouse 6/10: The scrum looked better once he came on, although still not dominant. Solid enough in what he did in general play.
Jackson Hemopo 5/10: Lost a ball in contact in a good position, but was not too bad other than this, taking over Latta's role of the hard-working lock in the tight.
TJ Ioane 6.5/10: Ran the ball hard and showed great leg-drive, although made a couple of mistakes too including a dropped ball mid-field and a conceded penalty.
Nick Ealey 6/10: Passed well for the most part and cleared the ball well. Showed he has a running game too, with a good snipe late in the game. Could be worth a start sooner rather than later.
Peter Breen 5.5/10: Pretty tidy at fullback and slotted in at first five-eighth too. Did not break the game open, but did not make mistakes either.
Marshall Suckling 5/10: Another who was tidy, solid on defence and did not do much wrong on attack, more a hard grafter than a game-breaker but did well in that role.
