The Otago Highlanders demolished the Coastal Sharks 48-15 yesterday with a dominant seven-try performance that gives their playoff chances a huge boost.
Buoyed by the return of All Black trio Ben Smith, Malakai Fekitoa and Aaron Smith, the Highlanders’ slick passing game saw them run away with the game in the second half.
The bonus-point victory took the New Zealand side’s record to seven wins from 10 matches, consolidating their spot in the top six as a clutch of rivals breathe down their necks.
Photo: AFP
It was the fourth straight defeat for the Sharks, leaving their finals hopes hanging after the first match of a tough five-week New Zealand and Australia road trip.
“It’s quite hard to see any positives at this stage,” Sharks captain Marco Wentzel said. “We have to look at the negatives first and fix the problems, then take it from there. It’s a tough tour, it doesn’t get any easier.”
The Highlanders’ high-tempo passing game was rewarded with a try after just four minutes when flanker Gareth Evans shrugged off Odwa Ndungane’s tackle to cross in the left corner.
There should have been another 15 minutes later after sustained pressure from the Highlanders which was halted by desperate defense by the Sharks.
The South African side finally gained some momentum with their lineout, using their forwards to attack up the middle and set up prop Tendai Mtawarira for a try to level the scores at 10-10.
However, it was a short-lived reprieve as Waisake Naholo and Patrick Osborne hit back for the Highlanders with two tries in three minutes to make it 24-10 at the break.
Flyhalf Lima Sopoaga created both tries, the first with a pinpoint chip-kick to the corner, the second with a beautifully timed pass that put Osborne into space.
The Sharks came out hard after the restart, but were held up over the line twice in the first five minutes before Highlanders lock Mark Reddish scored their fourth try.
Reddish snuck up alongside Conrad Hoffmann as he tried to shepherd the ball out of the Sharks’ in-goal area, throwing out a hand and touching down for five points.
Aaron Smith followed up with another try two minutes later off the back of a break by Richard Buckman, blowing out the score to 36-10.
Brendon Edmonds heaped on more pain for the visitors as the Highlanders forced a turnover near their own line, then took the ball through nine phases before scoring their sixth try.
Bismarck du Plessis managed a consolation try for the Sharks, but the Highlanders were still not done, with Elliot Dixon making it seven to complete the rout.
WARATAHS 13, BRUMBIES 10
Defending champions the New South Wales Waratahs won their fourth straight game against Australian rivals ACT Brumbies with a resilient 13-10 Super XV win in Canberra yesterday.
The Waratahs closed to within one point of the Brumbies’ lead in the Australian conference with their first win in the capital in four years.
Both sides scored a try each, but it was the Waratahs’ superior defense and goal-kicking that earned them a crucial win over their fierce rivals following their stormy 28-13 win in Sydney earlier in the season.
The Brumbies had their chances as they dominated possession and territory in the second half, but the Waratahs defense was unyielding, even when they were reduced to 14 men late in the second half.
Wallabies winger Rob Horne was yellow-carded for illegally attempting to disrupt a pressing Brumbies driving maul close to the Waratahs try-line in the 65th minute.
Yet the Sydneysiders tenaciously thwarted the Brumbies, who threw away a couple of scoring chances by taking the wrong options.
Winger Joe Tomane scored first for the Brumbies in the eighth minute off a long pass from Robbie Coleman which gave him a clear run to the left corner.
Adam Ashley-Cooper leveled the scores six minutes later when he scored against his old club off a long pass from scrumhalf Nick Phipps.
The remainder of the points came from penalties.
Christian Leali’ifano put the Brumbies in front 10-7 at halftime with a 28th-minute penalty, but the Waratahs came from behind in the second half to claim the win with penalties from Kurtley Beale and Bernard Foley.
The Brumbies turned down the opportunity for Leali’ifano to kick for a draw in the final minute, electing instead to go for a lineout and a driving maul, which the Waratahs successfully defended.
“We didn’t get much flow in attack, but we defended really well, even with a man down, and that’s where we won the game, we really fought hard together,” Waratahs skipper Dave Dennis said.
The Waratahs kept the ball in play for as much as possible to restrict the Brumbies using their potent driving maul.
“That’s our way of showing respect for their driving maul by keeping the ball in play and when it was in touch I thought we defended well as well,” Dennis said.
Brumbies skipper Stephen Moore said his team had plenty of chances to win the game.
“There wasn’t much in it, but I’m proud of the effort the boys put in,” Moore said. “We had a lot of chances in the second half and weren’t good enough to take a few of them, and that’s disappointing.”
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