Under-rated Goosen an early hit
We never got to see if 60-14 was an aberration.
This time last year, Wellington were still battling away in the Mitre 10 Cup’s championship division. Not that it stopped them putting 60 points on the eventual premiership champions from Christchurch, during a crossover game.
Now Wellington and Canterbury are legitimate rivals, after the Lions secured promotion to the competition’s top tier by beating Bay of Plenty 59-45 in last season’s championship final. One of the rewards of that is a trip to the often-unhappy hunting ground of AMI Stadium, on Saturday.
‘‘With us and Canterbury there’s always that rivalry, whether it’s CrusadersHurricanes or WellingtonCanterbury.
After what happened last year, they’ll be looking to get us, they’ll target this game and it’s tough to win there,’’ Wellington wing Wes Goosen said.
Memories of the Hurricanes twice going to Christchurch this year, and twice being beaten with ease, won’t fade in a hurry. Faced with a heavy track and a good opponent, the Hurricanes had no answer.
‘‘I honestly don’t know [why]. You just go there and the crowd’s into it and they’re very clinical. They don’t do much wrong, so if we’re going to make that many errors they’re going to pounce on it,’’ Goosen said.
‘‘We must win our ball and we need to hold onto the ball and we need to exit well. We can’t put ourselves under pressure after we’ve just scored a try. Just little things like that.’’
Goosen scored two tries in the 34-16 win over Otago on Sunday that sees Wellington top the premiership standings after one
round. Canterbury, meanwhile, lost 25-17 to Tasman in Blenheim.
Left wing was Goosen’s spot against Otago, just as it was for the start of Super Rugby season. He scored a brilliant individual try in the Hurricanes’ round-one loss to the Bulls, then suffered an ankle injury. No sooner was he back from that, than he broke his jaw.
By the time he was fit again Julian Savea, Nehe MilnerSkudder
and Ben Lam were sharing the game time on the wings, with Jordie Barrett slotting in at centre.
Goosen would like to be Wellington’s No 13, but accepts he’s more likely to line up in 11 each week.
The one advantage being that Vaea Fifita tends to operate down the left-hand side. The blindside flanker played a big hand in both Goosen’s tries and will be a handful
for every team.
‘‘Obviously Vaea showed he can run [against Otago] and we’ve got Izzy [Walker-Leawere] who can get that arm free and if Sammy Lousi comes back there’s some good players to run off,’’ Goosen said.
Rest after a hard Super season was given as the reason Lousi sat Sunday’s win over Otago out, but it’s understood there’s a knee injury in play as well.