NORTH OTAGO BEATEN
OAMARU: North Otago sacrificed a 1714 halftime lead through loose defence to lose 2724 to HorowhenuaKapiti in Oamaru on Saturday.
The side lost its way in the final quarter, its decisionmakers showing an unwillingness or an inability to stick to the pattern.
North Otago cocoach Nigel Walsh felt his side allowed HorowhenuaKapiti back into the game.
‘‘Did it get away from us or did we give it away?’’ Walsh asked.
‘‘You could look at it either way. We had a game plan to go by, but it wasn’t played on the paddock.
‘‘It was pretty disappointing, to be fair.’’
First fiveeighth Josh Buchan opened the scoring for North Otago with a penalty shortly after he had broken the line.
HorowhenuaKapiti hit back midway through the half when winger Dylan Taylor ambled in for a try.
But North Otago opened up a 177 lead after tries to fullback Simon Lillicama and winger Hemaua Samasoni.
The visitor scored just before the break, when centre Kalim Kelemete crossed the chalk.
It struck again shortly after the resumption, when Buchan dropped a poor pass from his halfback.
HorowhenuaKapiti midfielder Timoci Serawalu swooped on a fortuitous bounce and scored beside the posts.
Trailing 2417, North Otago drew level when Buchan split the defence and rushed 55m to score.
But HorowhenuaKapiti got back in front through a penalty with 17 minutes remaining, and held on to win.
Oddly, North Otago went away from shifting the ball wide, where it had been getting plenty of traction.
‘‘There was some good stuff — don’t get me wrong,’’ Walsh said.
‘‘But to win these games you’ve got to stick to the game plan.
‘‘It certainly wasn’t our plan to kick so much ball away. We wanted to keep it in hand.’’
It was not all bad for North Otago. Lillicama added spark from fullback. Lock Anthony Amato put in another strong performance and flanker Filipo Veamatahau was industrious.
In the other Heartland games, South Canterbury thrashed East Coast 1007.
Unbeaten sides Wanganui and King Country accounted for Mid Canterbury 3012 and Thames Valley 3729 respectively.
Wairarapa Bush caused a minor upset by toppling Buller 6129, and West Coast edged Poverty Bay 3130.