Otago misses opportunities, key player
OTAGO was missing a tank in the midfield — Thomas the Tank.
It had lots of ball, plenty of territory and enough opportunities to beat Auckland at Eden Park on Saturday evening.
But Otago was sloppy, and subsequently beaten 3517.
The scrum was backpedalling and that will need some attention before Sunday’s home fixture against Bay of Plenty.
But it was in the midfield where it so often fell apart for Otago.
Powerful second five Thomas UmagaJensen skipped the game with a groin strain and was sorely missed.
Ray Nu’u took his spot and had been in fine touch as well. But he limped off with a knee complaint 20 minutes into the game and that forced Otago into a significant reshuffle.
Josh Timu moved from centre to second five. Winger Jake Te Hiwi shifted in a spot and Freedom Vahaakolo came on to the wing.
The rejigged backline did not function well on attack or defence, and coach Tom Donnelly accepted the changes had an impact on the game.
‘‘We’d trained with Ray at 12 all week and obviously Josh Timu had to go into 12 and he was a bit unsure of some of the stuff in there, and I suppose that did have an impact,’’ Donnelly said.
‘‘But we should be good enough players to be able to adjust to any situation, really.’’
Auckland spent most of the first 30 minutes in Otago’s backline. The home side was chronically offside and the penalties mounted.
But Otago was not able to capitalise on its possession and territorial advantage.
The first try summed up the game.
Otago was hot on attack and building nicely. Christian LioWillie took the ball into contact but lost it forward. Auckland scooped the ball up and took off.
Upfield, Harry Plumber shook off the tackle of Vilimoni Koroi and got the ball to loosie Blake Gibson who scored.
It was more or less a lengthofthefield effort.
‘‘We were pretty average,’’ Donnelly said.
‘‘We obviously did some really good stuff and fought pretty hard.
‘‘But against a good Auckland side, we just gave them too many tries.’’
UmagaJensen has comfortably been Otago’s best player this season. Without his direct running game, the backline tended to drift across field.
He has also been formidable on defence and has the handy habit of snaffling turnovers.
Donnelly is keen to get him back in the lineup pronto, and there is a decent chance he will be fit for the next game.
The standdown was more precautionary and he might not be out as long as initially thought.
It is unclear how long Nu’u will be sidelined with his knee injury.
‘‘It could be two or three weeks, it could be longer. We just don’t know yet.’’
Hooker Ricky Jackson is another injury concern. There are fears he may have ruptured his Achilles.
Otago conceded a penalty try from a scrum just before the break to trail 210. Loosehead Abraham Pole was under pressure and the scrum collapsed while firmly in reverse gear.
The other key moment in the game came when winger Salesi Rayasi cut through between two defenders close to the ruck to score.
Auckland lost two players to the bin late in the game and Otago ran in a couple of consolation tries to trim the margin.
Centre AJ Lam ran amok — he sliced through the defence and made several telling breaks — and No 8 Jackson Pugh was a handful at the breakdown.
Hooker Henry Bell was solid for Otago and halfback James Arscott added some zip in the second half.