Nareki hat-trick steals show in Otago win
All eyes were on Manawatu’s All Blacks-reinforced backline, but it was Otago wing Jona Nareki who stole the show as they won 40-30 in Dunedin yesterday.
Nareki, who went to school in Manawatu, punished his former province with a hat-trick of tries, including two to put the match beyond doubt in the second half.
The Turbos had All Blacks Nehe Milner-Skudder and Ngani Laumape on deck, but a lack of frontfoot ball meant neither had much impact on the game until it was too late.
Milner-Skudder rarely touched the ball, while Laumape had a couple of strong carries without regularly featuring.
When Manawatu did get the ball into the backline, Sio Tomkinson repeatedly hammered Hamish Northcott with thumping midfield tackles to take the air out of the attack.
Much of Otago’s performance was thanks to flanker James Lentjes, lock Josh Dickson and hooker Sam Anderson-Heather, who ensured they had the advantage up front. The back-and-forth match started when Otago halfback Jonathan Ruru barged over from close range in the 18th minute following a lost lineout for Manawatu.
Otago knocked on from the kick off which put Manawatu firm on attack.
Otago defended well, but eventually faltered when Laumape barged through.
Otago were winning the breakdown battle and the go-forward helped them get some momentum.
A big break down the blindside by Mitchell Scott was finished off by a Josh Ioane cross-field kick to Nareki for his first try.
But Otago’s discipline was their undoing. On the back of two quick penalties, Manawatu had a lineout 5m from the tryline.
Jackson Hemopo cleaned up a messy lineout and charged his way through four tacklers to score as the siren for halftime sounded.
Otago coach Cory Brown’s halftime talk appeared to hit the mark with them coming out strong early in the second half.
They finally got some reward in the 52nd minute as Scott dotted down.
With the momentum heavily in their favour, they took the lead in th 59th minute through skipper Sam Anderson-Heather in his 50th match.
Otago’s woes clearing the balls from kick-offs continued to haunt them.
Scott tipped a ball back from a kick, but it landed in the hands of Hemopo, who offloaded to Lewis Marshall with Jamie Booth finishing off the try.
Otago fired back within two minutes as Manawatu were caught napping from a quick tap as Nareki bagged his second try.
Nareki then picked up his third after a well worked scrum move as Otago pulled away.
Meanwhile, Northland picked up a comfortable 44-13 away win over the Southland Stags in Invercargill last night.
The Taniwha picked up their second win of the season, scoring six tries as they made the Southland defence pay for missed tackles.
The Stags remain winless in the 2017 Mitre 10 Cup. - with Scott Donaldson