Not too many concerns for Otago in hitout against Southland

Otago Daily Times

18-07-2025

New Otago coach Mark Brown has given his side a "sneaky B-plus" for their opening effort of his tenure.
They beat Southland 40-31 at the University Oval yesterday afternoon.
The sneaky B-plus was more than fair.
Otago dominated virtually the entire first half and led 26-12 at the break.
They would have received a much higher grade except they suffered bouts of narcolepsy.
The home team muffed too many restarts and Southland pounced.
Hard-working No8 Ethan Macdonald crashed over from close range, and halfback Nic Shearer took off from another quick tap, ran around an Otago pack that had taken the opportunity for a forty winks, and dotted down in the corner.
Both opportunities came about because of some rotten work at the restart.
Brown had a wry smile when asked about the sluggish effort at that phase.
"Yeah, so ironically over the last 10 days, kick-offs are the one thing we hadn't got to, so that showed," he smiled.
"But no real concern on our behalf there. But what it does highlight is how important they are, so they'll get our attention in the next week or two."
Other than that, the first 40 minutes were impressive from Otago.
They controlled possession and territory and scored four tries.
Young fullback Sam Nemec-Vial got two of them.
He stepped off his left foot and ran in from 20m to score his first.
And he finished off another with an acrobatic dive in the corner.
The Green Island player looked dangerous when the ball came his way.
But stand-in first five Sam Gilbert set the tone. He made sound decisions and gave the ball some width.
He got an armchair ride thanks to the pack.
Zingari-Richmond hooker A-One Lolofie had a strong game and scored from a lineout drive.
New recruit Joseva Tamani was solid in the lineout, and blindside Will Stodart hit rucks hard and did well in the set pieces.
Southland scored first after the break.
Otago fumbled the ball close to their line and winger Michael Manson finished off a nice move from a 5m scrum.
But Otago centre Thomas Umaga-Jensen burst free from a ruck, scampered 30m and offloaded to openside Harry Taylor to score.
But the try of the game was scored by Jae Broomfield.
He has shifted south from Canterbury to try his luck with Otago and he showed some good gas.
He ghosted through a gap in the midfield and ran a 50m angle run to the corner.
He outpaced the chasing pack and pushed off the last defender to score a ripper.
Southland centre Issac Te Tamaki scored a late consolation for Southland to narrow the margin.
But Otago dominated the fixture when they could keep their eyes open.
"I don't really want to pick out names. I thought collectively they all subbed in and connected with the team and played in the system and took on board what they've been exposed to the last couple of weeks," Brown said.
Otago open their NPC campaign against Southland in Invercargill on August 2. Three players who caught the eye
■Otago have named just one specialist first five and he missed Otago's warm-up against Southland at the University Oval yesterday afternoon. But experienced outside back Sam Gilbert filled in more than admirably for Cameron Millar. The utility back is heading to Ireland at the end of the NPC to play for Connacht. But he demonstrated how useful he will be with a polished effort at pivot.
■ Otago fullback Sam Nemec-Vial is uncontracted, but he played with some real spark at the back. He stepped off his left foot and ghosted 20 metres to score his first. And he dived over in the corner later in the first half to complete an impressive outing. He has good pace and he is gutsy. Could do with a few more meat pies to fill out those skinny legs.
■ Southland spent most of the game on the back foot but scored some nice opportunist tries. The effort of halfback Nic Shearer was pretty impressive. He took a quick tap, ran around an Otago pack that had taken the opportunity to take a nap, and dotted down in the corner.