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Watch: TJ Perenara signs off Wellington career with poetic try

TJ Perenara of Wellington scores the try. Image courtesy of Sky Sport NZ.

TJ Perenara’s farewell tour reached a special milestone on Friday night as the halfback donned the Wellington colours one final time in the capital before packing his bags for Japan.

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The 32-year-old signed a three-year contract with Tokyo Black Rams earlier in the year, forgoing his All Blacks eligibility and signalling an end to his iconic rugby career in New Zealand.

It was an emotional night for Perenara two weeks ago as he ran out onto the Sky Stadium turf for the final time in the black jersey, and Friday night’s NPC quarter-final saw another special moment play out in front of the diehard Wellington faithful.

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Perenara was joined by fellow All Blacks Ruben Love and Billy Proctor in returning for NPC duties in the Lions’ quarter-final clash with Counties Manukau.

The matchup pitted him against counterpart Cam Roigard in the respective No. 9 jerseys, but it was Perenara and Wellington who would own the night as the talent-rich Wellington team ran away as 29-14 victors to advance to the semi-final.

Helping the side carve out that lead was a 50th-minute try by the man himself.

With a Wellington ruck set on Counties’ 22m line, Perenara fired a typically crisp ball to first five-eighth Jackson Garden-Bachop before the ball found one-time All Black Peter Umaga-Jensen.

Player Tackles Won

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Hugo Plummer
23
2
Caleb Delany
22
3
TJ Perenara
20

The reserve midfielder held the ball for a second to engage Roigard at the line before delivering a skip pass to an unmarked Asafo Aumua on the wing.

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The electric hooker made the most of the space he was put into by sprinting down the touchline before squaring up the final Counties defender and delivering the try assist to Perenara, running the classic halfback support line to finish the effort.

 

The play inevitably sparked a roar from the Wellington crowd, with fans online labelling the moment a “poetic” one for Super Rugby’s 2nd all-time leading try-scorer.

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Perenara wasn’t the only All Black to get his name on the scoresheet on the evening, far from it. Billy Proctor provided the pace to finish another of Wellington’s efforts while Cam Roigard picked up where he left off after last week’s two-try performance with another in the capital.

Asafo Aumua’s contribution to Perenara’s try was just one of three key involvements the hooker had in Wellington’s tries. The explosive front-rower combined with forwards and backs alike in attacking strike plays, executing a deceptive reverse move down the blindside off a line out on the 22m line that resulted in a try to All Blacks XV flanker Duplessis Kirifi, also combining with Riley Higgins for the No. 12’s try that opened the scoring in the contest.

Higgins, one of the youngest members of the recently announced All Blacks XV squad, had another starring performance in the quarter-final, further cementing himself as one of the future stars of New Zealand rugby as the country farewells another of its greats.

Watch the highly acclaimed five-part documentary Chasing the Sun 2, chronicling the journey of the Springboks as they strive to successfully defend the Rugby World Cup, free on RugbyPass TV (*unavailable in Africa)

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JW 2 hours ago
All Blacks player ratings vs Ireland | Autumn Nations Series

Nah, if you see some picture of a way to blame Dmac rather than the whole team who were slacking and just getting beat by an Argentina team that was up for it then you've got unconscious bias I'm afraid.


The coaching staff (and the team as they had done throughout Fosters era) did just not get them in the right frame of mind. They slackened off after two intense English tests and were slow to build back up into test match intensity after the San Diego run around. You can view that Wellington loss as akin to what went on in Chicago in 2016, it was just delayed a couple of weeks in this instance.


Good reminder of what game management is, unfortunately it doesn't cover all the bases and is missing pivotal parts of lethality.


I think you're misunderstanding the argument, this is about Dmac, not the team, and about his idea of game management, not his application. In none of the games this year, including this weekends one, has he done relentless execution of the basics. His conservative game was neither shrewd or accurate.


The difference here is perspective. You see a win and you want to apply credit, just as you saw a lose and want to apply blame. Dmac's game management in both circumstances was very similar, just in this game I felt that pressure to concentrate on it caused him a few more errors in that application for no real gain in that area, and a much more ineffective attack stop the team from making it a very comfortable game.


The other difference is you a way overplaying Irelands performance imo. They were pathetic. Even in the start of the 2nd when they were trying to get points with the card it felt comfortable they weren't going to have what it takes even if they fixed their error rate. That was the first Bled test where Dmac nearly singlehandedly took an unbeatable 50 lead, a great example of good game management that again just didn't come off. Those tests were not 12 tests ago. Twelve tests ago he was running England around like he'd been in the jersey his whole career. We didn't break any record, the streak is a figment of Irelands imagination to desperately show how good they are to the world. You've been caught hook line and sinker in all these topics sadly.

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