his greatest games as captain with the Otago forward pack outplaying the much larger Springbok pack. The Springbok head, given to the first provincial team to beat the touring South Africans on each tour was presented by Springbok captain Tiaan Strauss to David Latta at the after-match function under the Rose Stand. 1995 Second place in National Provincial Championship After a mixed season, Otago beat Counties at Pukekoke in the semi finals to set up a final against Auckland in Auckland. It was to be the last games for Otago for Arran Pene, Jamie Joseph and coach Gordon Hunter. It was also the 100th game that Stu Forster and Paul Cooke were to play for the province. Injuries forced Otago to put Jamie Joseph and reserve Lio Falaniko at lock. Early on in the game, during a lineout, Anton Oliver was hit from behind and turned and threw a punch at Craig Dowd, knocking a few teeth out. Oliver received a one match suspension as a result. The game was played at a high pace and Josh Kronfeld, after being tackled, was taken from the field with a badly sprained ankle. David Latta was brought on as a replacement open side flanker. Tony Brown kicked an early penalty. Marc Ellis kicked a grubber kick through that lead to a try in the corner for Jeff Wilson. Otago was ahead by 19-17 with minutes to go when referee Colin Hawke penalized Stu Forster and awarded a penalty try to Auckland to give them the game. Stu Forster said of the penalty try: "I saw Zinny [Brooke] after the game, and he said the ball was definitely out of the scrum when I kicked it. But that's life, that's sport." Arran Pene said of the game: "I was wide and left a gap for [Mark Carter] because I was going to slam him over the top of the ruck. But I slipped on the surface and let a try in, and that was a turning point. It was a hell of a game, and I remember Zinny dropping the ball with the line open too." Marc Ellis was very upset by the loss commenting that "We had a cool team, a lot of bloody good guys, and Gordy Hunter was a great bloke as coach. He knew his limitations, but he made us believe in ourselves. And we almost pulled off the