Special day in the home town for Otago No 8

Otago 53 Southland 20

Otago No 8 Paul Miller turned on an explosive performance for his unbeaten team in their demolition of Southland in Invercargill yesterday.

He scored three tries and spent most of the afternoon swatting away defenders like they were pesky little flies, but still he was not happy.

Miller was unstoppable at times, often making telling ground with powerful charges. He also revealed real pace and an encouraging workrate.

It was a fitting NPC return to Invercargill for the former Southland representative, who is well and truly over the medial ligament problems in his right knee which have caused him all sorts of problems in fitness and form in the past two years.

Miller's efforts ignited many of Otago's attacks and played a big part in their seven tries-to-three victory.

But the backrower was not jumping for joy after the final whistle.

"I'm not overly happy," he said. "You're always striving for a complete performance.

"There were a few facets of play where we didn't clean out enough at rucks and left messy ball for the backs."

Miller is being tough on himself, but he knows he has to be.

They set high standards in Otago and he is thriving under the tough coaching regime of Laurie Mains and forward assistant Wayne Graham, a former All Blacks loose forward.

Another with Southland connections, Bluff-born Brendan Laney, also made his mark on a sunlit field and in a game which Otago could have won by more had they not eased off and lost some of their structure after racing to a 24-8 lead by the 20th minute.

First five-eighth Laney, who is probably playing some of the best rugby of his career, missed only one of his nine kicks at goal and scored two tries for a total of 28 points.

He showed all his skills, grabbed one try after sprinting 80m after picking up a loose Southland pass, and his long pass created the overlap which put fullback Hayden Reid across for Otago's final try.

Southland had the final say when Jason Tiatia scored after they had won a number of rucks and play had swept 80m.

The forwards stood up well, winning the lineouts 17-8 and the rucks and mauls 74-58.

But that was misleading. Southland's ruck possession was often too slow, giving Otago time to get organised in defence.

- NZPA