• Matt Faddes was able to cross for a hattrick for the visitors
• Auckland were unable to capitalise on a slender first half lead in the second spell

The unbeaten streak has ended tonight at the hands of Otago. The Southerners were good value for their win throughout the match and made it count when it really mattered to stave off a dramatic late comeback by the home side.

Vilimoni Koroi opened the scoring, benefitting from a loose turnover by Auckland in the opening exchanges. The blue and white hoops had no one home at halfback on their own ball and Koroi was able to nab an offload in support and scoot away for the try.

Auckland didn’t take long to strike back and level with a powerful maul from the lineout providing the perfect platform for Jonathan Ruru to get Tumua Manu one-on-one and crash over from close-range.

When it rains it usually pours and Auckland made true of that statement with a second try soon after through Dalton Papali’i who was on-hand to finish off a combination of hard-nosed work from his forward counterparts and fleet footwork from Jacob Umaga.

Jona Nareki stemmed the short burst of momentum Auckland had with a tidy finish on the back of a peach of a cut-out ball to slide over in a tight finish adjacent to the touchline.

Tumua Manu was on the end of some sharp footwork and a neat offload in contact by Salesi Rayasi to slide over for a first-half double and extend Auckland’s lead back out to seven.

The Southerners just wouldn’t go away in the first spell. Auckland failing to clear the ball from the kick-off allowed Otago to pin them inside their own 22-metre and the build-up of pressure was too much with Matt Faddes crossing out wide.

The home side led by just two points as they came out for the second half and were soon trailing with Matt Faddes grabbing his second of the evening to put the visitors in front.

Faddes completed his hattrick with just under 20 minutes remaining after a deft chip from scrum time saw the ball sit-up perfectly for the Otago centre to score from.

Akira Ioane got the home side back in the match with ten minutes to play, barging over from the back of the scrum to get Auckland within five points of stealing a late comeback victory.

Alas, the comeback was short-lived and despite one last hurrah at the Otago line, Auckland were unable to pull this one out of the fire.

Auckland 26 (T Manu 2, D Papali’i, A Ioane tries; H Plummer 3 conversions)

Otago 31 (V Koroi, J Nareki, M Faddes 3 tries; J Ioane 3 conversions)

(Halftime: 19 – 17)