Otago vs Wellington Predictions - Visitors unbeaten run to continue

The last two fixtures between Otago and Wellington have gone in Wellington's favour.

Otago come into this fixture placed 11th on the table with two victories from their five matches thus far. They are on 10 points, just two off the playoff spots.

It has been a bit of a strange season for the Dunedin outfit as they’ve lost games they really should have won and then beaten others unexpectedly. In round two, Otago beat Auckland by two points, a week before they went down inexplicably to Southland. 

After defeating Auckland against the odds, Otago were in fine form again, beating the then unbeaten Bay of Plenty 31-26. However, Otago then suffered a 22-18 away loss to Taranaki before going down 34-16 at home to Canterbury last weekend.

Otago did rest some players at the weekend which explains their average performance. This will be a tough contest though against the unbeaten Wellington.

Wellington could move top with victory against Otago. After five matches, they are second with five victories, but they do have a game in hand on Hawkes Bay, who are currently top by two points.

Wellington came into the season as favourites for the NPC title and they have looked good value for it to date. They began the season with eight point and seven-point wins over Auckland and Taranaki before beating Manawatu 39-31. 

Round four brough a superb performance as Wellington ran Canterbury ragged, winning 46-21. This last weekend, Wellington had little problem putting Southland away 36-12.

Wellington rested players this past weekend and I expect them to be close to full strength for this encounter.