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Sport Nation
Otago look ready to ruin the Apollo Projects Stadium farewell party
Jamie Lawlor • October 20th, 2025 1:28 pm
Otago's Cameron Millar vs Canterbury earlier this season | Photo: John Davidson/Photosport
The two best teams throughout the 2025 NPC season, Canterbury and Otago, have booked their spots in this year’s Final at Apollo Projects Stadium this Saturday.
The 2025 decider will be the first time Otago will feature in an NPC final since 2005, and 27 years since they last lifted the trophy, with it only being 3 years since Canterbury featured in a final.
Otago assistant coach Lee Allan told Sport Nation's The Rugby Run that a key reason for the team’s success this season is the 2025 appointment of head coach Mark Brown.
“He has led everything. He's been phenomenal.
“One of his driving factors coming in was that he wanted to create a safe environment where everyone is vulnerable and where you can express yourself, but at the same time be open to challenging each other.
“And it's just helped us as a coaching group and as a playing group flow on the field… we’ve been in some tough moments where we fought back and it's purely because of the environment ‘Browny’ has set up.”
Otago coach Mark Brown, plus co-captains Sam Gilbert and Will Stodart, with the Ranfurly Shield | Photo: John Davidson/Photosport
This year’s final will be the second time that these two provinces have faced each other this season.
The first being an enthralling Ranfurly Shield clash in round 8 that resulted in Otago winning the shield for the first time since 2020.
Allan said that the final against Canterbury will be a tough challenge as they are a side that is built to play knock-out rugby.
“Their set piece is strong, their defense is strong, and they go to work; there's no real secret to them, it's pretty clear what they're going to do.
“But it's an exciting challenge for us and I look forward to it,” Allan said.
“I suppose with Canterbury, it's the week of the final, but as an Otago man, we don't need much motivation when we play Canterbury, it wouldn't matter if it's just pre-season, we'd still be up for it.”
Steve Devine believes Dylan Pledger could be one of the great halfbacks | Sport Nation Mornings
This season, Otago has uncovered some exciting up-and-coming talents such as halfback Dylan Pledger and flanker Lucas Casey, who have been crucial in shaping the team.
“Each year, we have a blueprint around how we want to play, and we have a thing called blue blood, where it's based around the effort and all the little things off the ball that help on the ball.
“But then when you've got players like ‘Dylan and Lucas’, that can create something out of nothing, you want to get them the ball as much as we can, as it goes a long way to shaping our attack.”
The final is set to kick off at 4.05pm this Saturday at Apollo Projects in Christchurch.
Listen to the full interview below:
