The blue and golds came steaming home in the second half to beat Manawatu 40-30 at Forsyth Barr Stadium on Saturday, claiming their first win of the Mitre 10 Cup.
Running on desire and some brutal defence, Otago won thanks to some slick moves in the backs and a fine effort from the men up front.
Otago trailed 20-13 at halftime but notched four tries in the second 40 minutes to see off a willing Manawatu team.Otago scored six tries to three and rookie winger Jona Nareki helped himself to three tries in his hometown debut.
The home team found some holes in the Manawatu backline and created plenty of chances.
Skipper Sam Anderson-Heather said the side’s second half was where they wanted to be and they wanted to push on from there.
"In that first half we sort of piggy-backed them with some silly penalties and could not get a lot of possession," he said.
"But in that second half we got things going. We wanted to bring in the intensity that we had last week with the Shield game and keep that going.
"We’re really happy with that second half ... that is the benchmark we have set and want to go on with.
"In this sort of competition, it’s short, you can’t afford to drop too many games.
"We haven’t had many games together, and haven’t played here for a while. But the more we play, the more we’ll click."
Otago scored the first try through halfback Jono Ruru, who burrowed over from a ruck midway through the first half.
However, the first half ebbed and flowed and Manawatu scored a try right on the brink of halftime to go ahead.
But Otago steamed ahead in the second half with a try from skipper Anderson-Heather putting it in the lead 16 minutes into the second half.
It was a great way for the hooker to celebrate his 50th game for the province.
"I know it is a bit of a cliche but it was just another game. But later on when I have time to think about and reflect on it with family and friends, it will be pretty special. A huge honour."
Manawatu came back almost straight away to go ahead but two tries from Nareki inside five minutes pushed Otago back in front.
A penalty from Fletcher Smith with seven minutes left gave Otago a 10-point lead that was too much for the visitors.
Nareki was an obvious star, while the midfield of Tei Walden and Sio Tomkinson combined to put up a defensive wall. Both men put in some heavy hits in the tackle and also ran some nice lines on attack.
Up front the Otago loose forward trio got through a power of work and won the battle in the breakdown. Lock Josh Dickson was industrious and Anderson-Heather showed how well he plays when he gets some good minutes under the belt.
Manawatu was willing but had poor ball security and got a bit lost on attack.
In other games over the weekend, Canterbury thrashed Hawke’s Bay 53-10 in Napier, Taranaki beat Counties-Manukau 30-27 in New Plymouth and Northland downed Southland 44-13 in Invercargill. Yesterday, Tasman edged Waikato 31-29 in Hamilton and North Harbour defeated Auckland 57-10 in Albany.
Otago v Manawatu
The scores
Otago 40
Jona Nareki 3, Jono Ruru, Mitchell Scott, Sam Anderson-Heather tries; Fletcher Smith pen, 2 con; Josh Ioane pen
Manawatu 30
Ngani Laumape, Jackson Hemopo, Jamie Booth tries; Otere Black 3 con, 2 pen; Jade Te Rure pen
Halftime: 20-13 Manawatu
Crowd: 3700