All Black David Havili helps Tasman to season-opening win against Otago

At Trafalgar Park, Nelson: Tasman 27 (Macca Springer tries 5min, 55min, Alex Nankivell try 44min; Taine Robinson 3 con, 2 pen) Otago 15 (Will Tucker try 49min, Jake Te Hiwi try 59min; Sam Gilbert pen, con). HT: 7-3

David Havili only needed five minutes to remind All Blacks selectors why his name should be included in the World Cup squad next week.

Back on the park for the first time since he hurt his hamstring playing for the Crusaders on May 27, the silky-skilled midfielder played the first half of Tasman’s 27-15 win against Otago in Nelson on Friday evening.

The 28-year-old’s impact was almost immediate, too, as he uncorked a fend and dished a sweet offload to Anton Segner to put wing Macca Springer over five minutes into the opening match of this year’s National Provincial Championship.

It was one of a bunch of timed and angled runs Havili made in a frantic opening 10 minutes of the match, as the All Blacks hopeful went hunting for work in his first game in more than two months.

With barely 10 minutes up on the clock, Havili had set up a try, turned a ball over at a ruck, and been penalised for creeping offside defensively.

All Blacks coach Ian Foster and his fellow selectors certainly would have been satisfied by his 40 minutes of work as Tasman took a 7-3 lead into the sheds.

The good news for the Mako is they had a more than able replacement lined up in the form of Alex Nankivell when Havili’s All Blacks managed first game for his province in 979 days was over.

Nankivell pounced on a loose ball to extend Tasman’s lead four minutes after play resumed, before Springer scored the try of the match to put the Mako 24-10 up after 56 minutes.

Springer, who botched a try after Tasman strung 21 phases together in the opening minutes of the match, showed off his blazing speed when he got on the end of a smart box kick by Crusaders and New Zealand under-20s teammate Noah Hotham.

Otago, serial underachievers for an age, did score a couple of second half tries, including a beaut by Will Tucker after the ever-impressive Jona Nareki went up and nabbed a restart, but were hindered by a shaky lineout throughout a match which started with them making 30 tackles in first eight minutes.

They also weren’t helped by the loss of wing Waisake Naholo, whose Otago debut lasted 15 minutes before he was helped off Trafalgar Park with an ankle injury.

Already stung by the loss of Mitch Hunt (hamstring) this week, Tasman also lost a veteran early in the match, after returning fullback Tom Marshall failed a head injury assessment.

Taranaki host Counties Manukau in the second NPC match on Friday.