Otago dominated territory and possession in its Farah Palmer Cup opener against the Wellington Pride at Jerry Collins Stadium yesterday.
However, it was beaten 13-5 in its first game in the Premiership division.
A soft ground and rain early in the game should have favoured the huge Wellington forward pack, but the Spirit quelled that threat.
The Pride’s scrum was undeniably dominant and its defence was solid. But it struggled to get the ball, and when it did, Wellington rarely had Otago’s defence struggling.
The host team’s 7-0 halftime lead was established very much against the run of play.
Centre Monica Tagoai dived over next to the posts on the stroke of halftime. She finished a superb movement, initially ignited by a quick tap from Ana Afuie when Wellington was awarded a penalty in its own half.
The ball went through several sets of hands, as Wellington used the width of the park to create space from Tagoai to eventually score.
However, it was a rare first-half opportunity for the Pride.
Otago had all the ball and all the territory in the first 40 minutes.
The Pride did not get into Otago’s half until the 23rd minute, and did so off an intercept.
But for all its dominance, the Spirit could not score.
It built phases and forced Wellington to make plenty of tackles, but handling errors let it down.
Second five-eighth Kilisitina Moata’ane was a constant threat with ball in hand, while No8 Greer Muir and blindside flanker Maddie Feaunati were prominent in carrying strongly.
Moata’ane, in particular, got Otago close on several occasions. But it could never quite finish off.
The Pride took its chance early in the second half, as first five Amanda Rasch made it 10-0 after a dominant scrum resulted in a penalty.
Otago again mounted another attack, but it was Wellington that was able to generate points with another Rasch penalty.
Otago did not go away and had its best attacking passage late in the game.
Replacement winger Keely Hill made a run up the left sideline after being put into space by Moata’ane.
That gave Otago the field position to attack, and after winning a penalty in midfield, halfback Maia Joseph showed her class.
She took a quick tap to keep the attack going, before seeing space and putting a grubber into the corner from the next ruck.
Right winger Daimzel Rongokea chased that down and scored, but Cheyenne Cunningham was unable to add the extras from the sideline.
That left it an eight-point game with five minutes to play and Wellington held on.
