Wellington boot Northland into touch

NPC leaders deliver another thumping

High-flying Wellington put together a comprehensive 65-12 win over Northland at Wellington Stadium on Saturday, putting nine tries past the side who sit last on the table.

With no Super 12 or All Black experience in their squad, Northland were always going to find this trip a tricky assignment - but  they put in a dogged performance that bore two tries before the Wellington floodgates opened on the hour mark. 

The home side - who have now dotted down 19 tries in two games - got the scoring going with a penalty by Piri Weepu.

The first try came in the 12th minute, when Lions winger Lome Fa'atau chased down his own kick to score his seventh try of the NPC season.

Weepu missed the conversion, but it mattered not one bit - there were plenty more opportunities to come.

Six minutes later Wellington were over the line again as Riki Flutey, who has replaced David Holwell at first-five, sent Conrad Smith into a gap and through to the posts.

Northland replied with a try to Hayden Taylor made by the solid running of Manu Burkhardt-Macrae, but Wellington hit back with a sweet skip-pass that found Sireli Bobo in space and with a clear run to the line.

Wellington took a 23-7 lead in to the break, but Northland cut the deficit early in the second half with a pushover try to Stan Wright.

Wellington responded to the challenge, and scored 42 unanswered points in the final 30 minutes of the game.

The four-try bonus point was secured in the 57th min as Flutey got on the end of a pass from Scott Waldrom. Five minutes later Flutey scored again from a brilliant set-move at the scrum.

Maa Nonu then celebrated his return from injury with a great individual try after coming off the bench for All Black captain Tana Umaga, scoring after a making a trademark bullocking run.

Then, with Northland begining to wane, Wellington put together an awesome score.

From a Wellington scrum on their own five-metre line, the home side moved the ball up the field with some fine interplay between forwards and backs. It was Waldrom who accepted the final pass form Nonu to claim the brilliant length of the field try.

Jerry Collins and Mahonri Schwalger then claimed late scores to ensure that Wellington notched up their second 60+ points haul in as many weeks.

The scorers:

For Wellington Lions:
Tries: Fa'atau, Smith, Bobo, Flutey 2, Nonu, Waldrom, Collins, Schwalger
Cons: Weepu 5, Gopperth 2
Pens: Weepu 2

For Northland:
Tries: Taylor, Wright
Con: Huxley