Otago B dispatched Canterbury Country 45-19 in the final of the South Island Invitational tournament at Forsyth Barr Stadium on Saturday.
It was the home side’s third consecutive win and it played some sparkling rugby, posting three tries in the opening 12 minutes and adding another two before halftime.
With two Harbour wingers in the midfield, Otago was "all in" on offence, as Jerome Harimate and Lisala Halaleva found plenty of space in the centre of the field.
Harimate scored two tries and Halaleva, who had to shift to fullback when Matt Jones was sidelined after 30 minutes, threatened every time he touched the ball and also dotted down.
But both sides must have agreed to a moratorium on tackling and the game deteriorated the longer it went on.
The visitors had trailed 31-5 at the break but had the better of a sloppy final 40 minutes.
Centre Peni Manumanunilwa and fullback Mark Maitland clocked up plenty of running metres for Canterbury Country.
For Otago B, lock Ryan Thompson and flanker Hame Toma produced strong performances in the pack and winger Gavin Stark was one of the few who did not fall off tackles.
In the earlier game, Otago was defeated 22-16 by rival Canterbury in a national under-19 regional game.
The visitors had more pace in the backline and attacked through centre Brayden Ennor.
He was able to get on the outside of Otago’s midfield pairing of Thomas Umaga-Jenson and Hemaua Samasoni every now and then and it created space for the outside backs.
Otago opened the scoring, though. Impressive openside Slade McDowall intercepted the ball from the back of the scrum and ran 20m to score under the posts.
The Canterbury No8 John Borland atoned for his mistake, scoring down the other end, moments later.
Canterbury had a second when Siua Maile latched on to a stray lineout and charged upfield.
He found Will Tucker in support and the young lock scored in the corner.
Otago halfback Connor McLeod knocked over two penalties to give his side a 13-12 lead at the break.
The turning point came shortly after the resumption, when Canterbury swept 70m upfield and Ennor was on hand to reach over and complete a wonderful team try.
Despite the loss, Otago has qualified for the top eight of the national tournament in Taupo later this month.
SI Invitational tourney
The scores
Otago B 45
Jerome Harimate 2, Matt Jones, Ryan Thompson, Lisala Halaleva, Gavin Stark, Kaide Whiting tries; Josh Ioane 4, Stephen Fenemor con
Canterbury Country 19
Piti Sekilagi, Freeman Elder, Peni Manumanunilwa tries; Shannon Donald 2 con
Halftime: Otago B 31-5.
NZ under-19 tourney
Canterbury 22
John Borland, Will Tucker, Brayden Ennor tries; Harrison Kirk 2 con, pen
Otago 19
Slade McDowall try; Connor McLeod con, 3 pen
Halftime: Otago 13-12.