![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/cam-millar-2-011026-jpg.webp\")
Otago first five Cameron Millar kicks a conversion during the tense 45-42 win against Auckland at Forsyth Barr Stadium on Thursday night. Photo: Peter McIntosh. <\/p>\nOtago know how to score tries.<\/p>\n
It is stopping them that is the problem.<\/p>\n
But luckily they have Cameron Millar.<\/p>\n
The Otago first five kicked a penalty with the last act of the game to seal a tense 45-42 win against Auckland in front of 2763 fans at Forsyth Barr Stadium on Thursday night.<\/p>\n
They have held on to the Lin Colling Memorial, and they have given themselves a shot at hosting a quarterfinal.<\/p>\n
That is a good result for a team missing eight regular starters.<\/p>\n
They were depleted, not defeated.<\/p>\n
Otago also had a short turnaround following a 32-21 loss to North Harbour in Albany on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Otago first five Cameron Millar kicks a conversion during the tense 45-42 win against Auckland at Forsyth Barr Stadium on Thursday night. Photo: Peter McIntosh. <\/p>\n
It was a good display of character.<\/p>\n
But there is plenty to work on ahead of the playoffs.<\/p>\n
Defence will be at the top of the list.<\/p>\n
They conceded six tries.<\/p>\n
They also need a greater share of the ball.<\/p>\n
Auckland dominated both possession and territory in the opening half.<\/p>\n
Otago found themselves trailing 14-0 after a quarter of an hour.<\/p>\n
Winger Cody Vai went in out wide and former Otago halfback James Arscott collected a five-pointer after Stephen Perofeta ghosted through a gap.<\/p>\n
Otago looked sloppy and disconnected.<\/p>\n
But their pack clawed back some momentum.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/harry-irving-011026-jpg.webp\")
Otago lock Harry Irving is held by Auckland flanker Caleb Woodley during their NPC match against Auckland at Forsyth Barr Stadium on Thursday night. Photo: Peter McIntosh <\/p>\n
They set up for a lineout drive and hooker Nic Souchon peeled off the maul and crashed over.<\/p>\n
Auckland continued to get traction down the left wing. Vai was threatening to skip clear, but the try came in the middle of the park.<\/p>\n
Centre Xavi Taele stretched out and planted the ball down close to the posts.<\/p>\n
Otago struck back with a cracking try. Riley Lucas grabbed an intercept and got an inside ball to Slade McDowall.<\/p>\n
The openside got bundled into touch but not before he tossed the ball to Joseva Tamani, who dragged two tacklers with him to the tryline.<\/p>\n
But they could not hold on down the other end. Auckland second five Nikolai Foliaki slipped through two pretty ineffectual tackles to score.<\/p>\n
However, just before the break, Otago fullback Sam Nemec-Vial scooped up a loose pass with 52m to run. He swerved around one defender and outpaced the rest to run in and cut the gap to 28-21.<\/p>\n
Auckland had enjoyed 68 percent possession and 62 percent territory.<\/p>\n
They should have been ahead by a lot more.<\/p>\n
Finn Hurley punched through early in the second half, and Otago nabbed a fifth try.<\/p>\n
Joel Lam made a menacing run from the back of the lineout and Christian Lio-Willie dived over from the base of a ruck.<\/p>\n
But the tries kept coming.<\/p>\n
Taele ran in untouched from close range for his second and Vai nabbed an intercept try.<\/p>\n
It all came down to that\u00a0kick and Millar\u00a0drilled it from 23m out and 6m in from touch.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
NPC<\/p>\n
The scores<\/p>\n
Otago: 45<\/p>\n
Nic Souchon, Joseva Tamani, Sam\u00a0Nemec-Vial, Finn Hurley, Christian Lio-Willie, Moana Takataka\u00a0tries; Cameron Millar 6\u00a0con, pen<\/p>\n
Auckland: 42<\/p>\n
Xavi Taele 2,\u00a0Cody Vai 2, James Arscott, Nikolai Foliaki \u00a0tries; Stephen Perofeta 6\u00a0con<\/p>\n
Halftime: 28-21 Auckland<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Otago know how to score tries. It is stopping them that is the problem. But luckily they have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":617737,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-617736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=617736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617736\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/617737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=617736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=617736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=617736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}