No answer to Waikato pressure

Waikato 44 Otago 15

Not so long ago, it was legitimate to ponder whether this competition was ever going to start. After another belting semifinal last night, people must now be wishing it didn't all have to end this week.

At least it is likely to end in what could be the mother of all contests, now Waikato have secured passage into the final.

If Wellington thought they had been impressive with their defensive accuracy and intensity against Auckland, Waikato saw them on both fronts and then raised.

Clearly the players are no longer struggling to understand what coach Warren Gatland wants them to do on defence - get off the line fast, push up from the outside and swarm the ball-carrier in the midfield.

The execution was superb and Otago were left with nowhere to go. The visitors had plenty of possession but when they tried to run forwards off the fringes, they were hit by a tidal wave of gold, red and black jerseys. If they tried to go further wide, they were hit with a tidal wave of gold, red and black jerseys.

Some of the pressure might have been relieved if the forwards could have just got a wee nudge on but with Marty Holah, Keith Robinson and Jono Gibbes hitting rucks with such exemplary body positions and impact, the ball just wouldn't come out in the time frames Otago were looking for.

Nick Evans was left with the hopeless task of trying to spark some magic from static ball, which was a bit like being asked to make a gourmet meal with baked beans and bread.

Needless to say, as gallantly as he and his backline tried, it was a task beyond Evans and Waikato lived off the errors they forced.

It was classic pressure football and the more chaos Waikato wreaked with their tackling, the more they thrived offensively.

The opening try came after Richard Kahui hammered into Josh Blackie and forced a turnover. Before Blackie had even dusted himself off, Sione Lauaki was ripping through the midfield 40m down the field, Steven Bates got involved by throwing a huge pass to Mils Muliaina and Kahui finished off by latching on to the fullback's beautifully weighted grubber.

A scrum 10 minutes later saw Byron Kelleher treat the ball like a scalding potato and flick the sharpest pass to Sosene Anesi, who had the pace to beat the cover to the corner. When Anesi popped up in the midfield to flop over from a ruck, that was pretty much the ball game a few minutes before halftime.

Blackie restored some pride with a kick and chase try early in the second half, which probably only he and Olivier Magne in his pomp could have scored while wearing number seven.

Otago battled on until the end, showing admirable Dunkirk spirit but their task was just as doomed as those brave men stranded in Northern France in 1940.

The visitors got a sobering reminder of what they were up against when Lauaki made way for Liam Messam after 60 minutes. Any thought the change would deliver some respite disappeared when Messam ripped through the Otago midfield with his first touch and made 50m before Sivivatu steamed up in support and blasted through to the sticks.

Blackie aside, Otago didn't have anyone capable of making a game-breaking impact, whereas Waikato seemingly had one in every jersey.

Kahui would have to now be considered one of Waikato's key game-breakers after the 21-year-old got through a rock solid shift before making way for Dwayne Sweeney.

The challenges have got progressively more difficult for Kahui but every week, he looks more and more comfortable. He was so defensively assured last night that the prospect of him facing up to Tana Umaga and Conrad Smith this week is genuinely exciting. Can he impose himself against the best in the business?

The All Black selectors will be as intrigued as everyone else, as they will be to see how Robinson handles the aggressive ball runners in the Wellington pack.

Intrigued and excited - it's nice to be reminded we can feel this way about provincial rugby.

Waikato 44 (R. Kahui, S. Anesi (2), S. Bates, S. Sivivatu, B. Leonard tries; D. Hill 4 cons, 2 pens) Otago 15 (J. Blackie, T. Boys tries; N. Evans pen, con).