News

Stags win deep south duel

August 07 2009

Southland's form in the Air New Zealand Cup continued in Round Two following a well-earned 26-19 win over southern rivals Otago at Carisbrook on Friday.

It was Southland's second consecutive win and Otago's second consecutive bonus point loss as the Stags scored two tries to one.

Fly-half Robbie Robinson backed up his impressive showing in last week's 16-6 win over Waikato by kicking a magnificent six out of six goals for the visitors, as he contributed 16 points.

The previous year, Otago has won a closely fought encounter in Invercargill and another tight match looked on the cards with the hosts trailing 6-9 at half-time.

The Stags' lead was quickly extended two minutes into the second spell after a break-out from centre Jason Kawau put the Otago defence on the back foot. Loose forward Tim Boys continued the momentum, and quick ball from the breakdown gave Robinson an extra second or two to find centre Kenny Lynn to score.

But Otago struck back with two penalty goals by fly-half Chris Noakes and Southland's lead had been trimmed to 16-12 going into the last quarter.

Giant lock Josh Bekhuis looked to have put the game beyond Otago's reach at the 60-minute mark when Southland's numbers to the breakdown put them on the front foot.

Otago's defence was stretched too wide, and Bekhuis showed impressive power to score and put Southland ahead 23-12 thanks to a well struck conversion by Robinson.

But Otago hit back nine minutes from the end when the hosts drove inside the Southland 22, worked the blind and winger Ryan Shortland shrugged off a tackle to score in the corner. Noakes converted beautifully to make it 23-19.

Robinson relieved the pressure somewhat three minutes later with a penalty, but Southland still had to withstand a spirited Otago in the closing minutes.

The scorers:

For Southland:

Tries: Lynn, Bekhuis

Cons: Robinson 2

Pens: Robinson 4

For Otago:

Try: Shortland

Con: Noakes

Pens: Noakes 4

Otago: 15 Ben Smith, 14 Karne Hesketh, 13 Brett Mather, 12 Andrew Parata, 11 Ryan Shortland, 10 Chris Noakes, 9 Sean Romans, 8 Steven Setephano, 7 Alando Soakai (c), 6 Adam Thomson, 5 Tom Donnelly, 4 Hayden Triggs, 3 Kees Meeuws, 2 Jason Macdonald, 1 Ben Nolan.
Replacements: 16 Peter Mirrielees, 17 Sam Hibbard, 18 Hoani Matenga, 19 Paul Grant, 20 Johnny Legg, 21 Glenn Dickson, 22 Luke Herden.

Southland: 15 Mark Wells, 14 Pehi Te Whare, 13 Kendrick Lynn, 12 Jason Kawau, 11 Matt Saunders, 10 Robbie Robinson, 9 Scott Cowan, 8 Hua Tamariki, 7 Tim Boys, 6 John Hardie, 5 Joe Tuineau, 4 Josh Bekhuis, 3 Chris King, 2 David Hall, 1 Jamie Mackintosh (c).
Replacements: 16 Jason Rutledge, 17 Fai Mika, 18 Dave Gannon, 19 Tom Fleming, 20 Sonny Rangitoheriri, 21 Tony Koonwaiyou, 22 Seminar Manu.

Referee: Josh Noonan