Wellington keep Shield with big win over Mooloos
Wellington have locked up the Ranfurly Shield for the summer after a comprehensive win over Waikato in their first defence of this new reign yesterday.
After taking the Log o’ Wood a week ago for the first time in 13 years, the Lions had a tricky looking first defence against the conference-leading Mooloos, but the challengers were blown away 34-6 at a rain-swept Sky Stadium. Four years since they had the silverware, Waikato were a far cry from their usual slick operation, hardly firing a shot, and went to halftime behind 10-6.
While Wellington weren’t able to capitalise on a 10-minute oneman advantage when replacement Mooloos hooker Pita Anae Ah-Sue
was yellow-carded in the 51st minute for his late no-arms shot on TJ Perenara, as soon as the visitors were back to full numbers, the Lions struck the killer blow, with a quick lineout play and having Connor Garden-Bachop dive over.
After converting, Jackson Garden-Bachop slipped over but still managed to peel off a 50-22, and it set the tone for the rest.
Another short lineout throw had James O’Reilly latch onto a
strong rolling maul to go over, then after the siren came the bonus point, as a Damian McKenzie tap from 5m out was dropped by Jack Lam, Connor Garden-Bachop hacked ahead to halfway and Ruben Love slid over for the celebrations.
Earlier on it was a dour affair, with Wellington cracking things open with a brilliant 33rd minute
try to Pepesana Patafilo, against the run of play.
Waikato’s quick-tap penalty was soon nullified through a James Blackwell strip and Julian Savea half-field hack, and when Samipeni Finau put in an awful chip kick, Riley Higgins was able to ignite a Wellington attack, and soon after was also on hand to put left winger Patafilo over.
The Mooloos weren’t without their chances – either side of that try they had produced great 50-22 kicks from Xavier Roe and – of all people – Rhys Marshall – but on attack they really just scratched around flat-footed, and they settled for a McKenzie penalty after the siren to narrow the halftime deficit to four. However, there literally wasn’t anything more to come.
Wellington’s 64th minute try to Connor Garden-Bachop. With a slick front-of-the-lineout play between Asafo Aumua and Peter Lakai, the Lions surged down the left touch, and with penalty advantage they spun right for Julian Savea to cut back inside and offload for Garden-Bachop to dive over. And when brother Jackson converted, the lead was out to 14.
Match rating: 4/10
In a match that promised so much, it failed to deliver as the rain made for plenty of handling errors, referee Jono Bredin found plenty of infringements to whistle at the breakdown, and Waikato failed to fire a shot.
The big picture
Not only have Wellington got the Shield tucked away until next year, but with their sixth win on the bounce they have surged past Waikato to the top of the Odds conference and sealed their quarterfinals berth. They round out the regular season away to Counties Manukau next Sunday, while the second placed Mooloos host third-placed Bay of Plenty in the final game before the playoffs.