Second five-eighth Sam Wyber scored a hat trick of tries and Stu Melville kicked a crucial penalty in the final five minutes to help Otago Country to a 20-17 win over Darling Downs in Queenstown on Saturday.
The Australian touring side held Country to 7-7 at halftime, and the scores stayed close throughout the second half.
By the time Wyber had scored two tries in the second half to complete his hat trick, it was 17-17, before Melville stepped up to kick the winning goal.
The win gave Otago Country a record of three wins and four losses for the season, the wins including its warm-up game against the Country Sassenach Colts and its win last week over North Otago Development.
There were two other games, against Southland Metro and Southland Country, which could easily have ended in wins for Otago Country.
Both coach Roger Cotton and manager Tony Pryde were reasonably happy with how the side performed, and Pryde hoped some of the young players introduced this year would be back next year.
• The Otago Development team beat Canterbury Metro 15-7 in the South Island invitation final on Saturday.
Completing a good day for Otago teams, Slade McDowall scored a hat trick to lead the Metro under-16 team to a 40-12 win over Southland under-16, and the Otago Metro under-18 (28-15) and under-13 (35-14) teams also beat their Southland counterparts.
