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Wellington make statement in upset win over Auckland

By Online Editors
(Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

Wellington have sent the message to the rest of the Mitre 10 Cup – it’s a bad idea to wake a sleeping lion.

The beaten finalist from a year ago, Wellington’s season started in poor fashion with a demolition at the hands of Waikato in the opening round.

When they travelled to Eden Park to meet Auckland, who had a comfortable win over Otago in their opening match, things looked like they might finish in familiar fashion.

Auckland went up 7-0 inside the first five minutes after a try to hooker Leni Apisai from the back of a close-range lineout drive and dominated the early possession. However, an opportune try to Wellington second five-eighth Vince Aso against the run of play set the wheels in motion for an impressive 39-21 Wellington win.

Aso pounced on a loose offload around the halfway mark, taking the ball on the blindside, tip-toeing along the sideline before going in for his side’s first try.

While Auckland had the upper hand across the board, from there, Wellington took control on the scoreboard.

As strange as it is to think the team with just 46 per cent of the ball could be in control, Wellington defended well then picked their spots in the Auckland defensive line.

On the back of a solid in-play kicking game from Jackson Garden-Bachop, in addition to some well executed set pieces, Wellington soon found themselves with a healthy 22-7 lead after tries to right winger Wes Goosen, centre Peter Umaga-Jensen and fullback Billy Proctor.

Auckland hit back late in the half through halfback Jonathan Ruru, who dove over from close range, but weren’t able to close out the half strongly as Wellington slipped in a fourth try through left winger Pepesana Patafilo.

Wellington were making things look very easy inside the opposition 22, and the 29-14 halftime score line showed it.

Auckland continued to ask questions of the Wellingtonians once the second half got underway, and were quickly rewarded through a try to left winger Caleb Clarke, closing the gap to eight points with 25 minutes to play.

Garden-Bachop gave Wellington a bit of breathing room with a 61st-minute penalty, and for a while it looked like he had secured three vital points.

Auckland continued their assault on the Wellington defensive line, forcing the visitors to make 50 more tackles than them through 63 minutes, but their lack of patience let them down deep in Wellington territory. No 8 Hoskins Sotutu came the closest to getting Auckland within striking distance, but knocked the ball on in trying to put it down.

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Despite having to make more tackles, conceding more penalties and spending far less time in the opposition 22, Wellington made Auckland pay whenever given the opportunity, the last blow coming in the 73rd minute with Aso crossing for his second of the day to seal the 18-point win.

Earlier in the day, Otago were too strong for Manawat? in Palmerston North, running away with a 36-25 win.

The scoreline rather flattered the hosts, who trailed 36-8 with 13 minutes to go, before conceding two tries to Aaron Smith and another to Micaiah Torrance-Read.

Meanwhile, Hawke’s Bay bounced back from an opening round loss to Southland, dispatching Counties Manukau 31-17 in Napier.

Led by two first-half tries to halfback Brad Weber, the Magpies did the damage in the opening 40 minutes, with their 26-10 halftime lead proving too much for the visitors to match.

Wellington 39 (Vince Aso 2, Wes Goosen, Peter Umaga-Jensen, Billy Proctor, Pepesana Patafilo tries; Jackson Garden-Bachop 3 cons, pen)
Auckland 21 (Leni Apisai, Jonathan Ruru, Caleb Clarke try; Harry Plummer 3 cons).
HT: 29-14

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Jon 3 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 5 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

28 Go to comments
A
Adrian 7 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

28 Go to comments
T
Trevor 10 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

21 Go to comments
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