WELLINGTON, 23 April 2005 — The Otago Highlanders beat the Hurricanes 26-16 at Wellington yesterday to move a step closer to cementing a Super 12 semifinal spot.
A towering drop kick from replacement flyhalf Nick Evans sealed the game for the visitors four minutes from time but the southerners rarely looked as if they would surrender a game which they controlled from the opening few minutes.
The Highlanders took control when the game was only two minutes old, turning over the ball and counter-attacking with winger Glen Horton going over for the try. Ben Blair added the conversion.
A Jimmy Gopperth penalty put the Hurricanes on the board but the Highlanders extended their lead in the 14th minute, loose forward Josh Blackie showing a turn of speed to expose the flimsy defence and touch down.
Blair again converted to take the visitors out to a 14-3 lead. The Highlanders were in control in all areas, especially the scrums and line-outs, and easily contained the few Hurricane attacks. They went into halftime 14-6 ahead, a Gopperth penalty just before the break keeping the Hurricanes in touch.
The Hurricanes were more competitive in the second half as first a Gopperth penalty and then a Ma’a Nonu try brought them within a point of the visitors at 17-16. Nonu’s try came from a characteristic flowing backline move, which saw All Black captain Tana Umaga throw a long cut-out pass to the flying winger, who jinked and sprinted his way 35 meters to touch down in the corner. Gopperth converted.
However, Evans, who replaced a battered Blair at the break, slotted two penalties to restore the Highlanders’s advantage, before he put the result beyond doubt with his 40-meter drop kick.
The win, the Highlanders’s sixth in a row takes them into second place with next week’s game against competition leaders, the Sydney-based Waratahs, now looming large as a huge match.
The Hurricanes, who had been third going into this match, now face a tough task to hold onto a semifinal spot with games against fellow New Zealand sides the Auckland Blues and the Canterbury Crusaders.
