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North Island prop returns for Wellington for Canterbury grudge match
By Online Editors
The Wellington Lions will be hoping to secure a third consecutive win this weekend, taking on Canterbury at Orangetheory Stadium.
Following their 32 – 10 victory over Bay of Plenty, Lions head coach, Leo Crowley, has made just three changes to the starting XV.
Among those changes, Julian Savea makes his return from injury whilst Alex Fidow comes back from a concussion sustained playing Auckland.
James O’Reilly also gets a run for the first time this Mitre 10 Cup campaign and Crowley’s looking forward to seeing the hooker back in action.
“He’s been working hard behind the scenes to get ready for this opportunity. All considered, we probably couldn’t have named a more experienced team.”
The Premiership match will be the first time Wellington has faced Canterbury since the 2019 semi-final at Sky Stadium.
Coming off a loss to Hawke’s Bay on Saturday, Crowley says the Mainlanders will be looking to get their season back on track.
“We realise what is ahead for us in Canterbury. They are always tough to play, but our concentration is on our own environment and players as we try to improve across all areas of our game.”
He says the whole squad had a performance review of their efforts against Bay of Plenty.
“We felt a bit patchy in our performance and that can happen in a shorter week. There was plenty of good play mixed in with the average stuff.
Kick-off for this Saturday is 7:05pm.
Wellington: Billy Proctor, Wes Goosen, Peter Umaga-Jensen, Vince Aso, Julian Savea, Jackson Garden-Bachop, Kemara Hauiti-Parapara, Teariki Ben-Nicholas, Du'Plessis Kirifi (c), Vaea Fifita, Naitoa Ah Kuoi, James Blackwell, Alex Fidow, James O'Reilly, Xavier Numia. Reserves: Tyrone Thompson, Ben Aumua-Peseta, Josiah Tavita-Metcalfe, Caleb Delany, Mateaki Kafatolu, Connor Collins, Trent Renata, Pepesana Patafilo.
- Wellington Rugby
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Latest Comments
I’m looking forward to attending the Twickenham match, I don’t think it will have a bearing on the outcome of the grand prize itself but it will tell us more about each teams’ preparation and game plan. It’s hard to look past one of the big four (I’m including Canada) lifting the trophy in 2025 but sport is a curious thing, there will still be twists and turns in road ahead.
Go to commentsThe better side seems to be the losing side a lot these days. As far as narrative goes. Must be the big emergent culture of “participation awards” that have emerged in nanny states. ”It looked like New Zealand would take the game from there but lapses in execution let South Africa get back into the game. New Zealand’s goal kickers left five points out there, including a very make-able penalty on the stroke of half”. Sounds like a chronic problem… I wonder how the better team has lapses in concentration and execution? Or are those not important factors in the grand scheme of total performances? In 2023, the ABs at least didn’t give up a lead to lose. They just couldn’t execute to get the points and take the lead. This Baby AB result points to a choke - letting the game slip through your fingers. In the words of the great Ricky Bobby’s dad - “If you’re not 1st you’re last!” Loosely translated - if you didn’t win, you’re a loser.
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