Otago scraped its second win in a row in the ITM Cup, beating Tasman 13-11 in Nelson yesterday, after the match was scoreless at halftime.
Otago made a bucketful of errors, it never got anything going out the back and it had no continuity in its game as it failed to hang on to the ball.
Tasman was just as bad, and for Otago, which has made a poor start to the season, any win will be taken, no matter the fashion.
The win lifts it off the bottom of the table for the first time this season.
Otago did defend well in the first half when Tasman ruled the roost and then did enough in the second half to win the game.
But the skill level was poor at times from both teams and one must wonder how players on both sides can get to this level and then suffer the breakdown of the absolute basics.
There were more than 20 handling errors in the first half - more than one every two minutes.
Kicks were inaccurate, and chances were spurned as teams did not spot any space at vital times.
One could go on but the picture is clear - it was not pretty.
There will not be many runs on this game at the local video shop. Otago won the game with 10 minutes to go.
Ben Smith, who had moved into the midfield, busted through the defence in the middle, and was brought down 5m short.
Otago then moved the ball a couple of times and big prop Halani Aulika barged over under the posts.
With the conversion, Otago went out to 13-8 and, although Tasman scored a late penalty, it could not get over the line.
That inability to cross the line was Tasman's downfall as it scored just the one try, through skipper Chris Jack, after it held the ball for 30 phases.
It had a monopoly of the ball in the first half but just could not score points.
Smith stood out for Otago, but it would be hard to signal anyone out on either team.
Aulika looked lively while Brad Cameron got round the field.
The first half, which produced no points, was little short of appalling.
Otago, facing the wind, bumbled its way through while Tasman, which had most of the ball, just could not finish off.
It turned down two very easy penalty chances to look for five-pointers but was just not good enough to get them.
The closest it got was when winger James Kamana was bumped out in the corner by Smith and Cameron after 33 minutes.
Tasman spent more than 13 minutes inside the Otago 22m and had more than 70% territory in the opening 40 minutes but still could not trouble the scoreboard attendants.
Otago made a bad start, dropping the kick-off and it never got much better.
The visiting side made more than three timesas many tackles asTasman in the first half so its defence was solid enough - coupled with poor Tasman handling - to keep the game scoreless at the break.
ITM Cup
The scores
Otago 13
Halani Aulika try; Glenn Dickson 2 pen, con
Tasman 11
Chris Jack try; Steve Alfeld 2 pen
Halftime: 0-0.
