Waikato vs Otago Tips & Predictions

Waikato are 2nd in the Premiership Division with 4 wins and 4 losses. They won the last match 37-33 vs Bay of Plaenty on the road. Otago are 3rd in Championship Division. They won 3 and lost 3 so far. In the last one they won 22-20 vs Canterbury. Max stake.

The first game of the final round will kick off here in Rotorua Bay of Plenty, where a win for Waikato will secure them second position on the Premiership log which means they will be able to look forward to a home semi-final, but a loss will mean they will be overtaken by both the winners of the other two remaining fixtures involving the Premiership sides i.e. the winner of Tasman/Wellington as well as the winner of Canterbury/Bay of Plenty and they will almost certainly drop to fourth spot. A victory won't come easy however, as they will be facing a recently revived Otago side who will be looking to keep their momentum going following a few decent performances of late. Otago welcomes back their flyhalf and decision maker in the experienced Josh Ioane. The handicap looks well set and I will look to the points market for this one. The forecast shows rain is basically a given at over 90% chance and over 90% humidity. It would also already have been raining most of the day come kick off time. These horrible conditions, together with the fact that Waikato is not playing on their actual home ground, and the strength and momentum the visitors bring to this fixture, leads me to believe the most likely outcome here is a low scoring toughly contested match, and I am happy to bet on under 47.5 total match points.