The Otago Highlanders upset a 14-man Wellington Hurricanes team 14-9 in the opening match of the revamped Super 15 competition on Friday.
In an error-strewn display from both sides, poor discipline cost the star-studded Hurricanes dearly when Ma’a Nonu was sent off in the 50th minute, slashing the home team’s chances of overhauling the dogged Highlanders.
Otago, under new coach Jamie Joseph, scored the only try of the match when flyhalf Lima Sopoaga crossed the line in the 18th minute after a run from halfback Jimmy Cowan.
All Black inside centre Nonu earned a yellow card soon after for lying on the ball as a constant flow of penalties against the Hurricanes prevented them from building pressure, allowing the Highlanders to finish the first half ahead 11-6.
Nonu suffered another rush of blood to the head 10 minutes after the break, shoulder charging a leaping Cowan to leave Australian referee Stuart Dickinson with no choice but to brandish a second yellow for a mandatory sending off.
From there the Hurricanes were left chasing the game, receiving a lifeline when Highlanders substitute Brayden Mitchell was sin-binned for a professional foul with 10 minutes remaining but failing to capitalise.
Frustration
Hurricanes captain Andrew Hore said his players struggled to find top gear in their opening match and Nonu’s departure sealed their fate.
“You’re trying to play a game with 14 men for 40 minutes and you keep making mistakes — you’re never going to win a game really are you?” he said. “It was a bit of first game stuff, a bit of pressure, a couple of new guys, we didn’t click too well and they sort of lived off our mistakes and we made plenty of them.”
Hore expressed frustration that the Hurricanes’ attempts to instil discipline this season had failed so early.
“It’s something we’ve been trying to work on and obviously we’ve made it hard for ourselves now,” he said.
His Highlanders counterpart, Jamie Mackintosh, said his side had been written off before the match but the strategy of denying Wellington’s backline opportunities had paid off.
“It’s just great for my boys to get off to a start like this,” he said. “For our confidence, we needed that, not many people gave us a chance.”
“We certainly made hard work of it in the second half, our line-out fell to pieces a bit and we should have closed that game out when Ma’a got sent off, but it was character-building I suppose.” — AFP