Hawke’s Bay weathered a strong opening half from Otago to win the match 28-9 at Forsyth Bar Stadium this afternoon.
Otago was utterly dominant in the open half. The fact it went into the sheds trailing 7-6 would have been of enormous concern to the management.
Hawke’s Bay had been denied possession, denied territory and denied any meaningful opportunities until they pounced with a wonderful team try towards the end of the spell.
There was a lot of good handling for the first time in the match from the visitors and suddenly some space opened up for Highlanders back-up halfback Folau Fakatava, and underemployed winger Lolagi Visinia was on hand to provide the finish.
The home side fell further behind when Fakatava caught the defence napping from a quick tap and ran 20m to score with barely a finger laid on him unless you count his fend.
Josh Ioane kept his side in touch with a 54min penalty to narrow the gap.
But the challenged slipped away when Vilimoni Koroi picked up a yellow card for taking out Caleb Makene while he was in the air. Shortly after chunky lock Isaia Walker-Leawere burst on to a short pass and pounded 20m to score with 15 minutes remaining.
Otago openside Slade McDowall got a red card late in the game for a swinging arm in a tackle.