Foes are toppled from their pedestal

OTAGO 32 CANTERBURY 16

Otago ended an era of Canterbury dominance when beating their South Island rivals at Carisbrook.

Canterbury had won the past five games between the provinces and it was Otago's first win over their rivals since 1998.

Canterbury captain Ben Hurst said his team were surprised by Otago's aggression.

"They came at us really hard in the first 15 minutes and we weren't ready for that intensity of play," Hurst said.

"It was a good lesson for us. We were beaten by a team that wanted it more."

Otago surprised Canterbury when they scored two tries in the first spell to lead 18-8 at the interval.

When second five-eighth Seilala Mapusua scored his second try early in the second spell, the gap was 17 points.

"It is very difficult to play catch-up rugby, especially in these conditions," Hurst said.

"We paid dearly for a few mistakes."

Mapusua, the hard running and aggressive midfield back, was the star of the Otago team, scoring two tries himself and making the break that led to another.

"All the boys were geed up tonight and it all came together for us," Mapusua said.

It was Mapusua's first-half try that gave Otago a decisive 18-0 lead and the confidence to hold on and win the game.

Canterbury won a lineout, but left the ball sitting on the ground. Mapusua booted it downfield, dashed up and caught it on the bounce and ran in the try.

Another player of note for Otago was former All Blacks first five-eighth Tony Brown with his aggressive tackling and running.

His ability to take the ball to the line kept the pressure on the Canterbury defence and he outshone another All Blacks discard Andrew Mehrtens.

Other stars for Otago were loose forwards Josh Blackie, Kelvin Middleton and Sam Harding as well as mobile lock Filipo Levi.

Norm Maxwell dominated the lineouts for Canterbury and made 12 two-handed takes during the game.

- NZPA

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