North Otago not disgraced in defeat

Canterbury may have retained the Ranfurly Shield with an 85-24 win at Centennial Park in Oamaru yesterday, but North Otago landed a few blows for the underdogs.

Canterbury scored 13 tries, yet North Otago showed a willingness to run the ball, bringing the home crowd to their feet.

Canterbury shot out to a 19-0 lead after just eight minutes following tries to Joe Maddock, Casey Laualala and Sam Broomhall.

They showed the huge gulf that exists between first- and second-division players as they broke through North Otago's first line of defence.

The holders led 40-0 after 32 minutes, but then it was North Otago's turn to give the crowd something to yell about.

They turned down two shots at goal and decided to rumble the ball up in the forwards. A rolling maul had Canterbury back-tracking and lock Campbell McKenzie was shoved over the tryline.

Poor tackling let North Otago down throughout the game and Canterbury's big, speedy wingers made them pay dearly.

Maddock scored two more tries in the second half, and Alisi Tupuailei went over for two in the first spell and another in the second.

But North Otago did not throw in the towel and their persistence was rewarded with three more tries.

New Zealand Divisional XV winger Pila Fifita smashed through Canterbury's defence close to the line after a rampaging run from No 8 Ray Ofisa.

Their third try was a 60m intercept by winger Scott Mayhew, while veteran midfielder Mike Mavor scored in the corner right on fulltime.

Canterbury fullback Ben Blair had a superb day with the boot and looked dangerous on attack.

He landed 10 from 12 conversions and scored a brilliant individual try in the second half to finish with 25 points.

First five-eighth Andrew Mehrtens had a mixed game. He set his backline alight with some fast, crisp passing, but his defence left a lot to be desired.

Tupuailei was a headache for North Otago's defence as he used his strong frame to good effect.

North Otago were far from disgraced and at times had Canterbury under pressure. They were unlucky not to score two further tries and left the ground holding their heads high.

Their last Ranfurly Shield game was against Waikato in 2000 when they lost 95-17.

Prop Atalea Katoa was their standout player as he bashed his way through the Canterbury defence.

The midfield pairing of Steve Kotua and Mavor worked hard, and Ofisa was powerful off the back of the scrum.

Canterbury coach Aussie McLean said his team gained enormous benefit from the match. "I have to give North Otago big wraps, they really came to play."

Canterbury's next shield defence is on Wednesday against Hawkes Bay.

- NZPA