Two very entertaining Mitre 10 Cup contests in Christchurch and Dunedin have seen Waikato and Otago emerge victorious.
In Christchurch, Waikato have stolen the win in the 90th minute, with a late Cortez Ratima try and conversion from Rivez Reihana giving the Moolos the win.
A very even contest throughout saw Canterbury’s strong defence the difference between the two sides for most of the contest, before the Mooloos grabbed the result at the end.
Canterbury’s two tries came through forwards Luke Romano and Tamaiti Williams. In the first half, Canterbury executed a perfect lineout drive for Romano to crash over.
In the second half, again from the lineout drive, Williams picked up from the back and crashed over.
Waikato take on Taranaki at home next Sunday, while Canterbury take on Bay of Plenty in Tauranga on Saturday.
Otago outclassed Counties Manukau under the roof in Dunedin, producing a brilliant first-half performance.
The home team started on fire, scoring three tries in the opening 24 minutes, through Josh Timu - who scored the try of the day, stepping the defence and running 40m to score - Freedom Vahaakolo and Josh Dickson.
Counties came back into the contest with a late first-half try to Alamanda Motuga and started the second half better, scoring two tries in six minutes to take the lead through Orbyn Leger and Viliame Taulani.
Otago came home hot, scoring three more tries to Timu, Dickson and Charles Elton to grab the victory.
They are back in action against Northland at Forsyth Barr Stadium next Friday, while Counties take on Wellington at home on Sunday.
Waikato 16 (Ratima try; Reihana 3 penalties, 1 conversion) Canterbury 15 (Romanom, Williams tries; Burke 1 penalty, 1 conversion)
Otago 40 (2 Timu, 2 Dickson Vaahakolo, Eaton tries; Ioane 5 conversions) Counties Manukau 22 (Motuga, Ledger, Taulani tries; Kerr 3 conversions 1 penalty)
*****
89 min - TRY WAIKATO - From a scrum 5m out Waikato produces a huge scrum from Waikato and Ratima picks up and scores off the back of the scrum. He looked like he would be held up but reached to just get the ball on the line. Reihana makes the conversion to give Waikato the win. WAI 16-15
84 min - YELLOW CARD CANTERBURY - Waikato are camped on Canterbury's line going for a match winning try. Canterbury lose a player for repeated infringements.
76 min - TRY OTAGO - Counties are throwing the ball around in their own 22. Replacement hooker Zuriel Togiatama puts a pass down and Charles Elton picks it up and scores under the posts. Ioane converts. 40-22 OTG
69 min - TRY OTAGO - Otago’ attack started from a lineout drive which goes 20m to get inside the Counties 22. Otago continue to attack tight to the ruck before Dickson crashes over. Ioane can’t convert. OTG 33-22
65 min - PENALTY WAIKATO - Waikato has been camped down around Canterbury’s 22. Canterbury give away a breakdown penalty and Waikato will have a shot and Reihana slot it over. 15-9 CAN
59 min - TRY OTAGO - Great try Otago. It all starts from a lineout drive deep inside Counties 22 before they go out to the backs. Ioane puts a perfect chip kick for Timu to gather and score under the posts. Ioane converts. 28-22 OTG
54 min - TRY COUNTIES MANAKU - From a 5m lineout, Counties work a play off the back of the lineout. Donald Maka gives a great offload to Viliame Taulani to score under the posts. Kerr converts. 22-21 CM
50 min - TRY CANTERBURY - Canterbury is looking dangerous on the attack inside Waikato’s 22. They’re keeping it tight with the forwards. Shilo Klein, gives a great offload to Tamaiti Williams to crash over. Burke converts. 15-6 CAN
48 min - TRY COUNTIES MANAKU - A great team try for Counties. The attack all starts from 15 who is brought down on the 22. Kerr throughs a great cut-out pass and it gets to Leger to score in the corner. Kerr converts from out wide. 21-15 OTG
SECOND-HALF underway in Dunedin. We are now finally back underway in Christchurch.
HALFTIME - It's halftime in both Dunedin and Christchurch. A very even contest in Christchurch. Waikato lost Waaka to the sin bin for a high tackle but Canterbury couldn’t capitalise with the Mooloos dominating that period of the game. Canterbury got the only try through Luke Romano. When the Red-and-Blacks execute a perfect lineout drive.
Under-the-roof in Dueniden, Otago has dominated. They have scored three tries to one. Josh Timu got the pick of the tries when he stepped the defence to go 40m to score. Counties got a late try through Alamanda Motuga to keep Counties in it.
39 min - TRY COUNTIES MANUKAU -Couties are looking dangerous on attack. Sione Molia makes a great break down the right wing. From the next phase a great run from Ezekiel Lindenmuth who offloads to Alamanda Motuga who crashes over to get Counties their first try. Kerr's conversions hits both posts and doesn't go over. OTG 21-8
29 min - PENALTY CANTERBURY - Canterbury are building their attack nicely with strong run from Tom Christie. Otago give away penalty for offside and Burke will have a shot at goal and he slots it down the middle. CAN 8-6
24 min - TRY OTAGO - A great team try from Otago. It all started on their own 10m and a great offload from Timu puts Otago into the Counties 22. They go a couple of phases before Collins provides perfect short ball to Josh Dickson to crash over. Ioane converts the try. OTG 21-3
22 min - PENALTY WAIKATO -Waikato are looking dangerous on attack. The Mooloos start their attack just short of the 22 and have eight phases they're right on the canterbury goaline. After 15 phases the Mooloos win a breakdown penalty and Reihana will have a shot at goal. he slots it down the middle. WAI 6-5
15 min - TRY CANTERBURY - From the lineout Canterbury set a lineout-drive, which they exacute perfectly. The big lock Luke Romano has the ball at the back and crashes over. Fergus Burke misses the conversion - CAN 5-3
14 min - YELLOW CARD WAIKATO - With Canterbury hot on attack Beaudein Waaka gives away a high tackle and is sent to the sin bin for 10 mins.
13 min - TRY OTAGO - The Steelers are attacking inside their own half. Elton puts a big hit in, which forces a turnover allowing Otago to shift to Vaahakolo on the right edge, where goes 30m down the sideline to score in the corner. Ioane converts from out wide. OTG 14-3
12 min - PENALTY COUNTIES MANUKAU - Counties build their attack nicely just inside Otago's half. Otago gives away a breakdown penalty and Baden Kerr will have a shot at goal 40m out. He slots it down the middle. OTG 7-3
8 min - TRY OTAGO - A great individual try for Josh Timu. He receives the ball on the 10m line and steps his defender to get into the backfield to score. Ioane converts the try. OTG 7-0
6 min - Penalty WAIKATO. Waikato have made a strong start and have dominated possession and terrtory win a breakdown penalty on the 10m line. Rivez Reihana will have a shot and slots it down the middle. WAI 3-0.
KICKOFF - We are underway in both matches.
1:12pm - Welcome to our live coverage of Mitre 10 Cup action between Canterbury and Waikato and Otago and Counties Manukau. It's beautiful day in both Christchurch and Dunedin so we should be in for some good rugby.
*****
Kia ora, good afternoon and welcome to Newshub's live coverage of the final two fixtures of week six in the Mitre 10 Cup.
With the second Bledisloe Cup test kicking off at 4pm, Sunday's fixtures have been moved forward to an early 1:15pm kickoff.
In Christchurch, Canterbury hosts Waikato in a crucial Premiership, while down south in Dunedin, Otago squares off against Counties Manukau in a Championship encounter.
A win for Canterbury will see them move inside the Premiership top four, while for Waikato, it will lift them into second following Tasman's loss to Auckland on Saturday.
For Otago, they could leapfrog Northland into second, while a Counites win would give them some breathing space over the winless Manawatū Turbos.
Next week, games will return to their normal time slots of 2:05pm and 4:35pm.
For full team lists, click here.
