Tasman were made to work hard before securing a 29-27 win over a spirited Otago side in their Mitre 10 Cup clash Dunedin on Saturday.
There was drama aplenty as both sides had players sent to the sin bin and Tasman centre Levi Aumua received a red card during a crazy 10-minute period during the early stages of the second half.
The opening exchanges were closely contested with Mitchell Hunt and Fletcher Smith trading early penalties before Will Jordan and James Lowe crossed for tries which meant Tasman led 15-3 by the 15th minute.
Otago struck back via a Teihorangi Walden try two minutes later, before Smith narrowed the gap to two points when he added his second penalty in the 27th minute.
Tasman finished the half stronger though and an Aumua try on the half-hour mark, which Hunt converted, gave them a 22-13 lead at half-time.
The visitors made it 29-13 when they were awarded a penalty try in the 47th minute before Josh Ioane and Alex Ainley received yellow cards in quick succession shortly afterwards.
However, the game's complexion changed in the 56th minute when Aumua was red carded for a tip-tackle on Adam Knight.
Otago made full use of their numerical advantage and were rewarded with converted tries from Sione Teu and Sio Tomkinson but Tasman did enough to hold on for the win in the game's latter stages.
The scorers:
For Otago:
Tries: Walden, Tomkinson, Teu
Cons: Smith 3
Pens: Smith 2
Yellow Card: Ioane
For Tasman:
Tries: Jordan, Lowe, Aumua, Penalty try
Cons: Hunt 2
Pen: Hunt
Yellow Card: Ainley
Red Card: Aumua
Otago: 15 Fletcher Smith, 14 Mitchell Scott, 13 Sio Tomkinson, 12 Teihorangi Walden, 11 Latu Vaeno, 10 Josh Ioane, 9 Josh Renton, 8 Adam Knight, 7 James Lentjes, 6 Dillon Hunt, 5 Blair Tweed, 4 Josh Furno, 3 Hisa Sasagi, 2 Sam Anderson-Heather, 1 Craig Millar
Replacements: 16 Sekonaia Pole, 17 Aki Seiuli, 18 Donald Brighouse, 19 Josh Dickson, 20 Sione Teu, 21 Jonathan Ruru, 22 Vilimoni Koroi, 23 Leroy Van Dam
Tasman: 15 Will Jordan, 14 Tima Faingaanuku, 13 Levi Aumua, 12 Alex Nankivell, 11 James Lowe, 10 Mitch Hunt, 9 Billy Guyton, 8 Jordan Taufua, 7 Vernon Fredericks, 6 Ethan Blackadder, 5 Quinten Strange, 4 Alex Ainley, 3 Isaac Salmon, 2 Andrew Makalio, 1 Tom Hill
Replacements: 16 Ti'I Paulo, 17 Drew Petelo, 18 Tyrel Lomax, 19 Shannon Frizell, 20 Peter Samu, 21 Finlay Christie, 22 Tim O'Malley, 23 Trael Joass
Referee: Michael Fraser
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