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Flying High Otago seals win over Stormers with injury time try
WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Otago Highlanders winger Aisea Tuilevu scored a try in the second minute of injury time to give his team a dramatic 24-23 victory over the Stormers of South Africa in Dunedin on Sunday. Trailing 19-23 with the alloted 80 minutes already up, the Highlanders spread the ball wide from a ruck through two pairs of hands to allow Tuilevu to cross the Stormers' line unopposed. The move capped an exciting final ten minutes of play in which three tries were scored after a largely forgettable, error ridden preceding 70 minutes. The Stormers looked to have wrapped up the game with only a couple of minutes of regular time left when blindside flanker Hendrik Gerber crossed for his second try to give his side a deserved 21-19 lead. When van Straaten converted to make it a four point lead, the Highlanders' prospects looked to have all but evaporated. Highlanders flyhalf Tony Brown kept his error-prone team in touch with the harder running and more enterprising Stormers in the first half through two penalties, in reply to van Straaten's three successful kicks. The New Zealanders pulled level at nine points just into the second half with a Brown penalty. A more purposeful Highlanders took the lead in the 55th minute when openside flanker Finau Maka capped the team's first serious breach of the Stormers defenses by shrugging off two tackles to score between the posts. The lead was extended to 19-9 with another Brown penalty in the 69th minute, before the Stormers got the bit between their teeth. Gerber's first try on 74 minutes came after a brilliant run by winger Breyton Paulse and van Straaten converted. The Stormers looked to have taken the game when Gerber again popped up to receive the final pass after a good combination between inside centre Stuart Abbott and Paulse. As the referee played time for stoppages the Highlanders' last desperate fling at the Stormers' line resulted in two penalties in quick succession and the final move that proved the gamebreaker.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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