Otago will be looking to build on their upset victory over Auckland when they take on Bay of Plenty on Wednesday the 3rd of October.
The penultimate set of 2018 Mitre 10 Cup round-robin fixtures will get underway with a clash between Championship rivals, Otago and Bay of Plenty. The hosts head into this one off the back of a miraculous victory over Auckland which has put them in the driver’s seat to claim one of final three Championship semi-final berths.
Otago v Bay of Plenty
Wednesday 3 October
Forsyth Barr
08:35
To Win (80 Mins)
Otago 2/11
Draw 25/1
Bay of Plenty 39/10
Otago
Well, not many saw that result coming. Otago went into their clash with undefeated Auckland as massive underdogs with both the bookmakers and pundits. Rugby is a strange old sport, and the men from Waikato managed to overcome the odds and beat their much-fancied opposition 26-31.
Last week’s victory has seen Otago move to 20 log-points. They are only three points off second-placed Hawke’s Bay. They have a game in hand over Hawke’s Bay as well, which means a bonus put win here would leave them with a massive chance of claiming a home semi-final.
Bay of Plenty
The assignment for Bay of Plenty is a simple one, beat Otago to keep their chances of a claiming a semi-final alive. The visitors currently sit fifth on the standings and are 20 points adrift of their opponents. As such, they have an absolute mountain to climb if they are to reach the next phase of the tournament.
Bay of Plenty head into this one off the back of their fifth defeat of the season as they went down 15-17 to a struggling Manawatu side last week.
Verdict: Otago 2/11
They’ll be on a massive high after securing a major coup in beating Auckland last week. They’ll also be in search of a bonus point here so I can see the hosts taking this one by 12 points or more.
