Wellington at full strength before exodus kicks in At a glance
Almost exactly a year ago, Peter Umaga-Jensen hared away for the first try against Auckland inside the first minute of their Mitre 10 Cup match at Eden Park.
Tomorrow the blockbusting centre returns to the Wellington starting lineup to further push his case for inclusion in the wider All Blacks squad, and to help inspire a dramatic turnaround.
With Ardie Savea, TJ Perenara and Asafo Aumua likely departing for All Blacks duty next week, it’s the last we’ll see of a full strength Lions for a while as they seek a bounceback from a 53-28 loss to Waikato.
At least they travel with good memories of that 34-15 win on September 22, 2019, when they were without Ardie and Julian Savea, Perenara, Aumua and Dane Coles, currently sidelined but eyeing a comeback against Canterbury in a fortnight.
From the horrors of Hamilton, coach Leo Crowley kept jerseys one to 12 unchanged and promoted Umaga-Jensen from the bench, shifted Billy Proctor to fullback and brought Wes Goosen back from injury for his 50th game in place of Connor Garden-Bachop.
Umaga-Jensen hasn’t started a match in over a month, since the Hurricanes’ final round loss to the Highlanders on August 15 before he was picked for North v South.
With Brayden Ennor’s season over with a knee injury, UmagaJensen appears next in the queue
for an All Blacks callup, especially with coach Ian Foster eyeing as many as 46 players for his Rugby Championship squad in an Australian bubble.
‘‘I hope Pete becomes an All Black . . . and I’d expect anyone joining the enlarged squad will hopefully be sitting with their Mitre 10 Cup side over the next four weeks,’’ Crowley said.
Crowley expects to lose Ardie Savea, Perenara and Aumua to Foster’s camp next week as they prepare for the Bledisloe Cup opener in Wellington on October 11.
As seen in Hamilton, having some big name All Blacks doesn’t guarantee victory. Auckland and their six All Blacksmay have overrun Otago 38-6, but Wellington lacked energy in defence and were rushed on attack.
When pointed out his side missed 23 tackles and made five offloads, Crowley offered another damning number. ‘‘The bigger stat is that we let Waikato get away 26 offloads, that’s what we need to fix. That comes down to the breakdown and our tackle.’’ Everyone had a rushed buildup, but Crowley felt that was a major factor. ‘‘That two-week lead-in caught us napping. The same happened last year so that’s my hope we can replay that [when they made the Premiership final, losing to Tasman].’’ Auckland had current All Blacks Alex Hodgman, Akira Ioane and Caleb Clarke on deck a year ago when Wellington toppled them, and added Ofa Tuungafasi, Hoskins Sotutu and Rieko Ioane when they cantered home in Dunedin last weekend.
Said Crowley: ‘‘Auckland are twice as big [as Waikato] . . . they will bring physicality in the tackle and the breakdown so we have to be on our game.’’
Wellington: Billy Proctor, Wes Goosen, Peter Umaga-Jensen, Vince Aso, Julian Savea, Jackson Garden-Bachop, TJ Perenara, Ardie Savea, Du’Plessis Kirifi (captain), Vaea Fifita, Naitoa Ah Kuoi, James Blackwell, Alex Fidow, Asafo Aumua, Kaliopasi Uluilakepa. Reserves: Tyrone Thompson, Morgan Poi, Ben Aumua-Peseta, Caleb Delany, Teariki Ben-Nicholas, Connor Collins, Trent Renata, Pepesana Patafilo.