Laney wants anniversary present

The situation really could not be more perfect for Otago.

On Thursday it will be 20 years to the day since it beat Waikato 49-20 to win the 1998 NPC final.

It is fitting, then, that this year’s team will play the same opponent on Friday night in the Mitre 10 Cup Championship final — although this time it will have to travel to Hamilton.

That comes after a last-gasp 20-19 win over Hawke’s Bay in Saturday’s semifinal.

A win on Friday would give Otago promotion back to provincial rugby’s top tier.

It was something Brendan Laney, who scored two tries for Otago in the 1998 final, said would be fantastic.

He had met the team on two occasions this year and said they were a great bunch, and he had been impressed with their performances.

"The guys have played some fantastic rugby," he said.

"I think it just shows you, the last couple of weeks in particular, that they’ve got a lot of grit and determination and they seem to be playing really well for each other — particularly the result on Saturday night. It was just great, brilliant, in fact.

"They just look like they’re really enjoying their rugby and the environment they’ve got."

However, it will be a different environment the team will play in compared with that of 20 years ago. In 1998 Carisbrook was packed for the final, the atmosphere electric and the city right behind the team.

The crowd of 4203 which turned out to Saturday’s semifinal pales in comparison.

Laney believed there were a lot of reasons for the drop in numbers.

"It’s a real shame, really.

"I suppose we were really lucky that all the stars aligned and we got 40,000 people to the game.

"It was just the way it all worked out. We were really lucky.

"We had a lot of All Blacks playing and I suppose people want to watch the All Blacks play.

"Why crowds aren’t going, I think there’s a lot of other things going on.

"There’s a lot of rugby being played and people get a bit rugby’d-out.

"There’s also the amount of money people spend on Sky and other activities, so there’s not as much money floating around to go to games. It’s not cheap."

Despite that, he hoped a good crowd turned out for the final.

He was expecting a tough match, particularly coming after the Ranfurly Shield victory two weeks ago, in which Otago edged Waikato 23-19.

Waikato was a dangerous team with some exciting backs and had played some good rugby, he said.

Alongside that, the shield loss was likely to provide some extra motivation.

However, he was picking Otago to come away with the trophy.