Parker’s penalty kicks punish Southland in local derby
There was some intrigue to the game before the final whistle even sounded from referee Grant Stuart.
Southland ditched their traditional maroon strip for the day.
Instead, they run out in an outfit that looked like someone had used the jerseys to clean up the aftermath of a lengthy binge-drinking session.
What was important, however, was not the players’ outfits but the Donald Stuart Memorial Trophy – a piece of silverware on offer for a provincial rugby rivalry which stretches back to 1887 and has included 236 games over the 127 years.
The 2014 showdown lived up to the expectations even if the 8000-odd home fans would have walked away disappointed with the result at least. Parker opened the scoring with a long-range penalty after just one minute of play – his first of four penalties.
(Tei Walden, Michael Collins, Josh Renton tries; Hayden Parker 4 pen, 3 con).
(Mark Jackman, Willis Halaholo, Johh Hardie tries; Lima Sopoaga 2 con, 1 pen).
23-14.
With Otago dominating the opening exchanges, the Stags found a break through second-five Willis Halaholo.
After defending for the first five minutes, Halaholo latched on to a Trent Renata pass to run in an intercept try from inside his own half.
The Lima Sopoaga extras pushed Southland out to a 7-3 lead before Halaholo again made a big mark on the game inside the first 12 minutes.
Halaholo broke through the Otago defence and showed some good vision to put a grubber through and wing Mark Jackman put himself in the right position to scoop up the ball and score.
At 14-6 Southland looked good, but while the first quarter of the games was theirs, the final three quarters was certainly Otago’s.
Michael Collins responded to Halaholo’s intercept earlier in the game with one of his own in the 27th minute.
He latched on to a Scott pass to run 80m to score.
From that point this was Otago’s game.
Southland plugged away in the second half but a try to halfback Josh Renton from a nice dash from the base of the ruck was enough.
The Otago victory means both Otago and Southland have a twowin one-loss record after the first three rounds of the competition.
Eade