Makos secure bonus point win over Otago in Dunedin

Tasman Makos coach Kieran Keane had a very succinct warning for his players following Friday's scrappy 34-17 national provincial championship premiership rugby win over Otago at Dunedin's Forsyth Barr Stadium.

Despite securing their fourth consecutive bonus point win of the season to maintain their position at the top of the premiership table, Keane was instead highly critical of what he deemed to be a poor allround performance by his players.

"Wellington will thump us if we repeat anything like that performance and that's the truth of the matter," Keane said in reference to next Friday's away match against a resurgent Wellington side. 

"We might even be silly enough to believe we're a cut above some teams, but we're not and until we get our mindset clearly focused on being a good team, we're not really going to go anywhere in my opinion."

Despite Keane's obvious angst, Tasman were still able to build on their 27-12 halftime advantage to hold a seemingly unassailable 34-12 lead following a try to fullback Robbie Malneek just moments after the restart. But it was Otago who finished stronger, scoring the only remaining try of the game to No 8 Charlie O'Connell to end a frustrating Tasman performance.

"I was pretty dismayed and disappointed by the whole business, so it was a huge let down for all the management really, Keane said.

"I think the players believe they're rock stars and believe in their own press and they were extremely average in my view."

Even a couple of long-range tries weren't enough to appease an irate Keane.

"I'm not interested in spectacular and all that nonsense, I'd like a team with a little bit of a spine rather than a jellyfish outfit.

"We showed no spine...no killer instinct and we got a couple of fortuitous tries and just thought we were going to roll over them".

"We just make it up, it didn't look like we'd been together or trained together and it was certainly a very unprofessional performance in my view."

It was an opportunity for championship team Otago to claim the scalps of last year's two premiership finalists in consecutive weeks following last Saturday's last-minute win over defending NPC champions Taranaki in New Plymouth. But despite their own frustrating efforts, Tasman denied Otago any competition points

It was certainly a mixed performance by Tasman, blending moments of their trademark attacking flair with other all too frequent instances of frustrating indiscipline as Otago brought their anticipated physicality to the contest.

Tasman had still stunned Otago in the opening minute when No 10 Marty Banks split Otago's defensive line from 40m out and delivered a superb inside pass to halfback Billy Guyton for a clear sprint between the posts.

A Banks penalty stretched the lead to 10-0, but it took until the 23rd minute for Tasman to add their second try when left winger Mitchell Scott skipped clear from 35m out for a handy 17-0 lead.

A string of penalty concessions by Tasman eventually gave Otago an opportunity to attack and it was from an attacking lineout with 10 minutes of the first half remaining that flanker Adam Knight, son of former Otago lock Richard Knight, was driven over to reduce the margin to 17-5.

Tasman's indiscipline continued, putting genuine pressure on their defence as a major momentum swing again saw Otago lock Tom Franklin crash over after a strong carry by hooker Liam Coltman. However a second Banks penalty and a superb break by Guyton from near halfway eventually saw big South African-born lock Marco Kotze bullock across from close range for his first NPC try and their 15-point halftime lead.

A long-range counter-attack directly after the restart again provided Scott with a chance to showcase his pace, eventually in-passing to Malneek for the bonus-point try in the corner and a 34-12 advantage.

Tasman struggled to spark their second half attack as they continued to earn the ire of referee Paul Williams while also butchering several scoring opportunities with poor execution. The game lost a lot of shape as the second half wore on, and although Otago finished strongly, still never threatened to snatch victory away from Tasman.

Otago contributed the last try of the match, O'Connell capping off a slick break by No 10 Fletcher Smith and a clever chip kick to keep alive their own hopes of a bonus point. But although they finished the game on attack, Otago were denied any consolation in front of their home crowd.

Tasman 34 (Billy Guyton, Mitchell Scott, Marco Kotze, Robbie Malneek tries; Marty Banks 2 pen, 4 con) Otago 17(Adam Knight, Tom Franklin, Charlie O'Connell tries; Fletcher Smith con) HT: 27-12.

 - Stuff