Otago 46 North Harbour 29
North Harbour's controversial start to the national rugby championship took a turn for the worse in Dunedin last night as they were thumped by Otago in the interprovincial opener.
Otago's South African captain Eben Joubert led the assault with a vigorous performance, and his rapid fire two-try effort midway through the first spell sent North Harbour reeling in the second tier ITM Cup championship game.
The home side had a disastrous season in 2010 finishing last with just two wins out of 12 but they put that behind them last night.
The failure of All Black discard Luke McAlister to show up for North Harbour, and subsequent revelation he is trying to quit his national contract to join Toulouse, was hardly the all for one, one for all start that new coach Liam Barry would have been looking for.
The 28-year-old Joubert was everything that McAlister is not.
He came to Dunedin three years ago looking to boost his professional rugby chances and was an inspirational captain before a sparse crowd at Carisbrook.
Joubert finished off a marauding Otago move in the 25th minute, and minutes later charged past slack North Harbour defence after veteran Tony Brown had set up a clever midfield move.
North Harbour were unlucky not to have been awarded the game's opening try, when No 8 Mat Luamanu was penalised for a double movement. But they had few other claims to make and were virtually out of contention at halftime when they trailed 24-5.
Brown was a dominant figure with a full variety of passes and kicks, and his job was helped by a dominant Otago scrum. Harbour launched a two try blitz as the defensive standards slipped, but it was too little, too late and Otago took control again in the final stanza.
Otago 46 (E. Joubert 2, J. Hill, B. Atiga, T. J. Ioane. R. Verbakel tries; G. Dickson 5 con, pen; Brown drop goal)
North Harbour 29 (J. King, C. Rei, R. Wulf, M. Luamanu tries; B. Botica 3 con, pen). Halftime: 24-5.
