North Otago withdraws from Otago Country in second half

The battle between blue and gold has gone north.

North Otago put in an impressive second half to pull out of Otago Country and win 38-17.

It was a much improved attempt by North Otago in front of a home crowd on Saturday at the Whitestone Contracting Stadium.

The Old Golds showed their intent early on, when a nice ball from the first five Ben McCarthy helped Josh Phipps hit the line quickly to run in the opening attempt.

Phipps retired injured after the try and was replaced by Inoke Fisilau at fullback.

Fisilau was solid in the back for North Otago, providing plenty of talk and rule breaks, pushing his team into space and scoring a strong try himself.

Otago Country held onto the ball well in the first half, creating plenty of chances and pulling phases together. Otago Country moved the ball wide and saw a mismatch on the left wing and Clayton Buchanan scored his first try of the game.

Country defended well and had North Otago work hard to get close to his line.

Fisilau fired through a hole and, in a great defensive effort, Otago Country fullback Doug Smith held him up, but Fisilau showed his strength to reach out and hurl the ball down to get a 14-5 lead.

However, North Otago couldn’t shake Otago Country as winger Tyler Ford scored to make it 14-12 at halftime.

Country got off to a slow start in the second half, letting McCarthy score 30 seconds to take a 21-12 lead.

But the visiting side returned fire and Buchanan showed his pace and shot down the sideline to score Otago Country’s lone points in the second half.

Big No8 Junior Fakatoufifita went on to start a series of stunning attempts to bring home the win for the Old Golds.

McCarthy took a quick throw from the sidelines to Levi Emery – a Southland Country member who lost to Otago Country last week – who used his silky footwork to break through and put substitute flanker Seta Koroitamana into space to score.

Koroitamana scored again in the 79th minute to round out the win.

It was a much better performance from North Otago and gives the team a good lead on Sunday’s first Heartland Championship game.

Buchanan, Chase Owen and Rube Peina were the best at the park for Otago Country.

In the curtain raiser, South Canterbury’s development beat North Otago’s development 31-15.

Representative rugby

the scores

North Otago 38
Seta Koroitamana 2, Josh Phipps, Inoke Fisilau, Ben McCarthy, Junior Fakatoufifita tries; McCarthy 4 with

Otago Country 17
Clayton Buchanan 2, Tyler Ford tries; Chase Owen with

Peace: North Otago 14-12.