Slade suffered a serious groin injury to become one of three flyhalves ruled out during New Zealand’s eventually successful World Cup campaign last October.
He missed his first attempt at goal on Saturday and was astray with two of his first three, but landed a conversion and a 66th-minute penalty in a second half in which the lead changed hands three times to clinch the Highlanders’ third-straight win. win for the Otago Highlanders over the New South Wales Waratahs in Super 15 rugby Saturday.
“I suppose we’ve been working pretty hard on our game and tonight was an interesting battle,” Highlanders captain Jamie Mackintosh said.
“Both teams were contesting the breakdown area and they really came hard at us. We were a little bit scattered but we held onto the ball for long periods of time, put them under pressure and though our ball security let us down we snuck away with a win which is bloody great.”
In a hard-fought and physical match, the Highlanders went to halftime trailing 9-8 though they had the better of the first 40 minutes, winning 67 percent of territory and scoring the only try.
New South Wales flyhalf and captain Daniel Halangahu kicked three first-half penalties while Otago scored a try through scrumhalf Aaron Smith and a penalty through Slade, who had missed an easy conversion.
By disrupting the Waratahs’ scrum and lineout, the Highlanders undermined their game plan and they equally gained the upper hand with their trademark physical approach at breakdowns. They managed to turn over the ball frequently in the loose and their playmakers found gaps in the Waratahs defensive screen.
Against the run of play, Halangahu kicked penalties in the third and 12th minutes to give New South Wales an early 6-0 lead. Smith scored a try in the 15th minute after the Highlanders had run an attacking penalty. Flanker John Hardie set up a ruck near the goal line and flyhalf Lima Sopoaga took the ball forward before turning play infield for Smith to score.
Sopoaga was injured in the movement and forced to leave the field with a shoulder injury, causing Slade to move from fullback to fylhalf for the remainder of the match.
Flanker Pat McCutcheon suffered a broken ankle while scoring a try which gave New South Wales a 14-8 lead four minutes into the second half.
McCutcheon charged down a clearing kick from Slade, who had been forced onto his weaker left foot, and also gathered the bounce to dash under the posts. But McCutcheon was brought down in the act of scoring by Otago replacement Buxton Popali’i, fell awkwardly and had to be carried from the field on a motorized stretcher.
Otago regained a 15-14 lead with Hardie’s try in the 47th minute, but Halangahu put New South Wales in front again with his last penalty in the 51st minute.
Slade’s 66th minute penalty gave Otago its final, one-point margin, though the match remained in the balance through the last 14 minutes. Halanganhu missed his last penalty attempt, from long range, 10 minutes from fulltime.
“We put ourselves in positions to win with what we did in the first half but couldn’t manage to get there,” Halangahu said.
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Otago 18 (Aaron Smith, John Hardie, tries Colin Slade conversion, 2 penalties), New South Wales 17 (Pat McCutcheon try; Daniel Halangahu 4 penalties). HT: 8-9.
