Otago B finishes with narrow loss

OTAGO B ended its campaign with a tight 3129 loss to Canterbury B at Logan Park on Saturday.

Otago got off to the perfect start with fullback Taylor Haugh dotting down after only two minutes, following a midfield bust by Josh Timu.

Canterbury got into the game with a well taken try after 18 minutes and the teams battled away for the balance of the half until Otago was awarded a penalty try after battling away at the Canterbury line.

Otago took a 127 lead into the break and it stayed at that score until 10 minutes into the second half when lock Chucky Koroi was sinbinned for a deliberate knock down. The resulting three points closed the score to 1210.

Canterbury then scored three tries from the 60 to 70minute mark, two of which were longrange intercept tries and stretched the lead to 3112 with 10 minutes left.

Otago fought back and Timu smashed through to score after a strong run.

Five minutes later, flanker James Tomkinson was on the end of a great team try and it was 3124 with three minutes left.

Haugh used his speed to score his second right on fulltime to close it up to 3129.

The home team had a bad day with the boot, kicking just one conversion all day.

Otago finished its sevengame campaign with a fourwin, threeloss record.

Otago under19 finished its campaign with a close victory over Taranaki, winning 3631 at the national tournament in Taupo.

These sides had met last year in the battle for third and fourth but this year played off for 13th and 14th.

Otago had failed to qualify for the top eight in the regional playoffs, finishing behind Tasman and Canterbury.

Auckland A won the tournament, defeating Waikato 3017 in the final.