Fifty-eight seconds.
That is how long it took North Otago to score their first points of the game.
But it took until the 83rd minute for them to finally overcome Poverty Bay and secure a much-needed win in Gisborne on Saturday.
The 50-43 win pushed the Old Golds into fifth spot, three points behind East Coast.
The Olds Golds were on fire from the start, running in 21 unanswered points in the first quarter.
"I thought the way we started was phenomenal," North Otago coach Jason Forrest said.
"We knew Poverty Bay were targeting us, so we knew we had to start well and put the foot on the throat.
"The way we started — that’s the best ... 25 minutes we’ve played all year."
The Old Golds looked to be red-hot but after that initial quarter, Poverty Bay tightened up, and the visitors struggled to have the same dominance.
The home side had the better of the final quarter with North Otago lacking urgency at the breakdown, allowing Poverty Bay to score a couple of late tries to close the gap.
"Then the old momentum shift and we couldn’t quite get that intact," Forrest said.
"A lot of defensive stuff to work on.
"It’s a week-by-week final scenario now. Happy we got the five points."
Hooker Hayden Tisdall scored a hat-trick — two of his tries came from driving mauls led by locks Rory Bartle and Taylor Dale — and flanker Lucas Casey, one of the best on the park, scored a double in his second game.
Centre Jesse Bowring made an impact in the backline, Junior Fakatoufifita was at his brutal best and Kelepi Funaki made robust carries.
Funaki got the first try and Fakatoufifita then crashed over, skating through five defenders to give the Old Golds a 14-0 lead.
After some nice individual efforts, the Old Golds showed how deadly they are from broken play.
Casey made a break in Poverty Bay’s line, and dished off to Bowring, who flicked it to fullback Matia Qiolevu.
Qiolevu took off with his potent speed, putting the ball on the inside to halfback Tini Feke.
He was taken down short of the line, but popped the ball up to Bowring to finish off.
Once Poverty Bay finally got some territory, they made the most of it when Jonty Stewart scored in the corner.
Tisdall scored his first to get North Otago back to a 31-5 lead.
But Poverty Bay came back hard, counter-rucking and putting the Old Golds under pressure.
They eventually scored through Keanu Taumata, before Tisdall scored again to make it 38-12 at halftime.
Poverty Bay were better in the second half, piling on 31 points to North Otago’s 12.
The Old Golds scrambled well on defence, but Poverty Bay broke through with Jacob Leaf scoring.
Funaki returned fire and Casey ran a hard line to score and take the Old Golds to 45-19.
From there, North Otago found themselves forced to defend.
Winger Taine Aupouri scored followed by Seth Lundon off a lovely chip inwards from Te Peehi Fairlie.
All the momentum was with Poverty Bay, who closed the gap to 45-31, and the Old Golds struggled to pull together phases.
Tisdall won a turnover at the breakdown, forcing a North Otago scrum on their opposition’s line.
Fakatoufifita peeled off the back on the blindside, and passed the ball over the top off his defender to Tisdall on his outside to finish off.
Poverty Bay scored two late tries to close the gap.
Heartland Championship
The scores
North Otago 50
Hayden Tisdall 3, Lucas Casey 2, Kelepi Funaki, Junior Fakatoufifita, Jesse Bowring tries; Tyron Davies 5 con.
Poverty Bay 43
Keanu Taumata 2, Taine Aupouri 2, Jonty Stewart, Jacob Leaf, Seth Lundon tries; Ricardo Patricio 2 con, Stewart 2 con.
Halftime: North Otago 38-12.
