Canterbury a class above
You can break a game down all you want, but sometimes it just comes down to the fact that the other team was just better. That was the case here, as Canterbury played with a pace and physicality which was a level above what Otago were playing at. The defence scrambled well at times, but the speed at which Canterbury ran and offloaded was hard for the Otago players to keep up with. They never looked rushed and at times made it all looked so easy. On the defensive end they kept Otago out and prevented them from firing a shot for long periods of the game. Otago fought hard, but if they are ever going to return to the top level, they need to be seen as equals of the top teams, not a team who will fight and do well to compete.
Poor kicking
There was an obvious tactic from Otago to use the kick and chase from inside their own half - or at least a kick. The chase was not amazing, although a lot of the time that came as a result of the kicking game going straight to the Canterbury players in positions that were too far away to contest. In the end the opposition back three were just standing there waiting for it. If you are not going to kick it out, you need to kick to put the opposition under pressure. This means either finding space, turning the opposition around, or putting a shorter kick in for the chasers to contest. That way you can force the other team to scramble to retain the ball, while you can attack the ball in the air, or at the tackle or breakdown, on the front foot. Only Fletcher Smith consistently used the boot well for Otago.
Ball retention needs improvement
Otago's ball retention was not great and prevented them from building any pressure. They dropped too much ball, forced too many offloads and threw too many poor passes that were not on. That prevented them putting anything together, but it also meant that they saw very little quality possession, particularly in the first half, which saw them struggle to put anything together.
Short lineout a better option
The Otago lineout was a mixed bag, with the Canterbury jumpers contesting aggressively. When they went to a short lineout, it all looked so much more simple, as the locks had more room and there were less hands to get in the way of the throw. From this they got some good off the top ball which was useful. That is not to say the full lineout did not work at all, but it was inconsistent and did not provide as quality ball, although they did execute a rolling maul well off one.
Attacking problems
The lack of flair on attack was evident. Too often the attacking option was to go wide with a flat backline, which generally ended up with the winger having no room to run in. The lack of a direct ball runner, or someone to spark something, is an issue. Smith looked like he could be dangerous when he took it to the line, while everything looked better in the final ten minutes when Tei Walden started running at the line. Up until that point though, the attack really offered nothing in terms of creativity, with the first two tries both coming from broken play opportunities.
Messy breakdown
Canterbury attacked the breakdown and did a good job of putting Otago under pressure. Their physicality was something the Otago forwards did not match and the absence of Joe Latta and Tom Franklin was felt in this area. Kaide Whiting had a tough time trying to provide good service, with very little front foot ball to work with, which meant the backline did not see much quality ball.
