All soft centres at the Cake Tin

Otago 26 Wellington 10

Oh dear. That's the thing about Wellington.

Like Forrest Gump's chocolates, you just don't know what you're going to get. Last night, they were all soft in the centre.

Otago defended robustly, played most of the match at the (for them) right end of the Cake Tin and were well worth the points.

It wasn't until the 65th minute Wellington came close to a try, when Ma'a Nonu almost created something down the left.

All the important numbers favoured Otago who were efficient and smart, where Wellington often looked rudderless.

Otago could reflect on a job generally well done, but which could have been better; by contrast, Wellington should be embarrassed. For a title contender, they were abysmal.

Both teams were coming off second round losses at home. But Wellington seemed incapable of retaining possession and made a string of playground errors.

Jimmy Gopperth had given them an early lead with a penalty, but after a decent opening burst, Otago were largely in charge.

Seilala Mapusua and Filipo Levi were formidable with the ball in hand, Grant Webb and Craig Newby did their bit, Nick Evans kicked at 100 per cent success rate, Otago enthusiastically supported the ball carrier, and should have been more than 13 points clear.

The only try of the first half came from lively halfback Chris Smylie, his first for Otago in the NPC.

It came after a couple of serious charges at the Wellington line and ended when Smylie, with help from a bulky team-mate, barged across between the posts after 20 minutes.

Evans kicked the other points of the first half as Wellington, playing dunce rugby, gifted away penalties in kickable positions.

Smylie effectively sealed the win, eight minutes into the second spell, when he charged round the blindside and slipped a pass to hard-running wing Matt Saunders, who went through a weak Gopperth tackle to score in the corner.

Searching for a positive, Wellington could reflect on a tidy lineout, in which Luke Andrews was the pick. Ben Herring toiled determinedly but his yellow card with a quarter remaining was the final straw.

Shannon Paku's try a minute from the end was meaningless. Wellington's mistakes had come too thick and fast in the previous 78 minutes for it to matter.

SCORING:

Otago: C. Smylie, M. Saunders tries; N. Evans 4 pen, 2 con

Wellington: S. Paku try; J. Gopperth pen, con.

HT: 16-3.