by Rajitha Ratwatte
It was expected to be a one-sided easy win for the Canterbury Crusaders. They were playing the lowly Otago Highlanders, top of the table against the near bottom. Furthermore, the Otago coach Tony Brown had dropped six of the stars or starting players, due to a breach of team discipline and ethics. Otago had Mitch Hunt was playing at no10 against the mercurial Ritchie Mo’uanga, both former teammates at Canterbury. A team of Wannabees from Otago against a team of superstars from Canterbury.
It was a frenetic start and the normally reliable George Bridge on the wing for Canterbury dropped a perfectly placed cross-kick and with it a chance for the Crusaders to get ahead early. 10 minutes into the game the Highlanders got a penalty far left of field and about 40 meters out. Mitch Hunt stepped up and converted, 3 – 0 to the underdogs. Seven minutes later Codie Taylor the Canterbury hooker was pinged for offside, 30 meters out and mid-right. Again, the Otago no10 converted 6 -0. Otago had learned from the Auckland Blues’ mistakes of not taking three points whenever Crusaders gave a penalty, as happened last week. The Highlanders continued their dominance with no seven Billy Harmon going over for a try within easy converting distance in the 23rd minute. 13 – 0 and a few punters who had taken the long odds, were beginning to smile. The Punters even began to buy drinks for their mates when another penalty was converted in the 31st minute and the ‘Landers went ahead by 16 – 0.