Wellington's whitewash in the south

The Wellington Lions secured themselves first place on the standings and home ground advantage in the Air New Zealand NPC play-offs when they recorded a 30-0 whitewash over Southland in their final round robin match in Invercargill on Saturday.

The Lions have to wait till Sunday's match between North Harbour and Bay of Plenty in Albany to see who their opponents in the semi-final next week will be. It could be anyone of Canterbury, Waikato, Taranaki, Bay of Plenty or North Harbour.

But the Lions have done all that can be expected of them, even though their clash at Rugby Park in Invercargill was by no means a classic ... they seldom are down in the deep south.

The forgettable match was also marred by the sending off of All Blacks loose forward Jerry Collins for a high tackle in the 36th minute.

Referee Steve Walsh had little option but to march Collins after he flattened Southland No.8 Paul Miller with a swinging arm to the chin.

Despite playing more than half the game with 14 men, Wellington were rarely troubled by Southland who ended their season with just one win from nine matches and firmly entrenched in ninth position on the standings.

It looked as if the floodgates would open when wing Ma'a Nonu scored from a simple cutback move to make it 14-0 after 20 minutes.

But Southland fought back and camped on Wellington's line late in the half without scoring. Try as they might Southland just couldn't break down the dogged Wellington defence.

Wellington's third and final try didn't come until the 75th minute when replacement back Jimmy Gopperth crossed the line.

The scorers:

For Southland:
None

For Wellington:
Tries: Schwalger, Nonu, Gopperth
Cons: Weepu 2, Gopperth
Pens: Weepu, Gopperth 2