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Wellington is safe from relegation in the Miter 10 Cup and has also kept his hopes of a prime ministerial semi-final alive after a crucial bonus points win over Manawatū in the capital on Saturday.
The Lions’ 31-5 victory ensures that they will not finish last in the congested points table (two teams with equal points are separated in their head-to-head result, while if more than two teams are tied, it is the most competition points scored against each other), while also giving them a chance to hold onto fourth place, and a trip to Eden Park to face the top-ranked Auckland in next weekend’s semi-finals.
Now they need some Sunday prayers, in the hope that North Harbor will beat the Bay of Plenty without a bonus point at Tauranga, and that Canterbury will not get a bonus point win over Auckland in Christchurch. If those two make it, Wellington will be in the playoffs for the seventh year in a row (in both divisions).
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Lions center Billy Proctor defeats Turbos tackle, blind flanker, TK Howden, during the clash at Sky Stadium.
Thanks to Counties Manukau’s win over Southland in Pukekohe on Friday night, Manawatū was already guaranteed the championship wooden spoon, so he had nothing but pride to play at Sky Stadium, but Wellington on the other hand. , had everything to get up for.
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A victory alone would not have been enough (save for the extremely unlikely scenario of a tie after the golden point between Bay of Plenty and North Harbor, where the Steamers also get a bonus point), so they always had to chase after the four. -Test voucher.
After two successive defeats, including last weekend’s forgettable Ranfurly Shield challenge, it didn’t seem easy for the Lions either, before they finally got going in stages and grabbed their bonus point in the 66th minute.
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Pepesana Patafilo stood out for Wellington in their crucial extra points victory over Manawatū.
Any chance of scoring early was hampered time and again by an average run in a scoreless first quarter, with stops and starts in which it was actually Manawatū who looked the most dangerous.
After the Turbos lost hooker Siua Maile to a nasty blow to the head in the 19th minute, they appeared to have opened the scoring just a couple of minutes later, when prop Tietie Tuimaga made a lineout shot and jumped, just to try. correctly. be discarded before conversion due to two small bumps.
But three minutes later, the visitors made up for that, with a magnificent attempt to cross Josiah Maraku after a quality ball at the lineout saw Ben Wyness throw a beautiful pass for Kirk Tufuga to break the field.
Wellington responded within half an hour, as they finally had some time in the Turbos’ 22-meter and Jackson Garden-Bachop, then Vaea Fifita provided good passes, before prop Xavier Numia charged.
It turned out to be the hosts’ only score from the first 40, as when Julian Savea, who is presenting in the second fifth eighth, passed three minutes before halftime, he was ruled out for obstruction, as Numia got in the way of the Turbos defenders.
Spinning with the wind with just a 7-5 lead after tackling their opponents twice, the Lions needed to find three attempts in the second stanza for that crucial bonus point.
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Downtown Manawatū Josiah Maraku is approached by Jackson Garden-Bachop and Wes Goosen.
In less than two minutes, they scored the first of them, when a missed Garden-Bachop penalty touchfinder went unpunished, and a counterattack saw Billy Proctor make a brilliant break, then poke a ball in for extreme Pepesana Patafilo to wander away. running. .
But, with Shamus Hurley-Langton proving to be a beast in the break and Wellington guilty of dropping the ball, the home team was by no means going to do this at a canter.
A yellow card in the 57th minute to Turbos winger Drew Wild for a deliberate takedown and then gave the Lions a golden opportunity, though from the resulting short-range lineout they hit.
However, just a few minutes later they made peace, after Manawatū had an attempt of his own discarded by obstruction, then the hosts made their way up, with an overlay created on the left and Teariki Ben-Nicholas number 8 strolling around.
That left the hosts with 18 minutes to find one more try, but it took them five, as Patafilo intercepted a terrible pass from Stewart Cruden, who walked away and then unloaded for replacement Vince Aso to dive.
Ironically, Patafilo received a yellow card on his next interception attempt in the 77th minute, but by then it didn’t matter.
TAKE A LOOK
Wellington 31 (Xavier Numia, Pepesana Patafilo, Teariki Ben-Nicholas, Vince Aso, Sam Smith tries; Jackson Garden-Bachop 2 with, Billy Proctor with) Heartbeat 5 (Josiah Maraku test). HT: 7-5.
MVP Points: Pepesana Patafilo 3, Vaea Fifita 2, Billy Proctor 1.
