Preview - Division One Final

Cantabs vow to break Westpac Voodo

Canterbury will be eager to break their losing streak at Wellington's Westpac Stadium in their crucial Air New Zealand NPC Final against the Lions on Saturday.

Canterbury has named an unchanged starting line-up that comfortably beat Bay of Plenty 44-12 in their semi-final at home. They will be gunning for their first NPC title since 2001.

Meanwhile the home team Wellington are fighting fit after beating Waikato 28-16 in their semi-final match at the Westpac Stadium last Saturday.

After a fantastic NPC this season, the Lions will be hoping to cap it off with another victory over the Cantabs.

We also look at the promotion/relagation game between Nelson Bays and Northland.

Read the Previews:

Saturday October 23

Wellington v Canterbury,
Wellington, 19:35

Wellington has a lot counting in their favour. They finished top of their group in the qualifying round, giving them a home Final at the Westpac Stadium.

Wellington will play before a capacity crowd and have built up a good record against Canterbury in recent years.

Canterbury is yet to win at the stadium and their last NPC win in Wellington was in 1998 at Wellington's old ground, Athletic Park.

Coach John Plumtree takes no notice of the fact that home ground advantage was a big plus in the play-offs though.

"Every game is different and the times we've beaten Canterbury at Westpac Stadium weren't Finals. This is a game that will have the intensity of a Test match," Plumtree said.

"We have improved in a lot of areas this year and must have belief in ourselves," he said.

And that self belief applies to scrum-half Piri Weepu as well. He has taken over as the goal-kicker since the departure of fly-half David Holwell. Weepu had an indifferent kicking display against Waikato last week but Plumtree is confident he will come right.

Weepu has been working on his technique with his goal-kicking mentor, former Manu Samoa international Earl Va'a.

Overall, Wellington is in top form though.

Openside flanker Ben Herring took a knock in the semi-final against Waikato after colliding with Rodney So'oialo but is fit for the Final.

Saturday's game is Wellington's second consecutive home Final. Last year they lost to Auckland. They were champions in 2000 when they beat Canterbury in Christchurch but a year earlier they lost to Auckland again in the 1999 final.

Under the old league system Wellington were champions in 1978, 1981 and 1986.

If Canterbury are to win their first NPC title since 2001, they will have to beat the jinx that is Westpac Stadium.

"It was not so much the stadium that has been an obstacle for us, especially when we played our NPC games there in 2002 and this year but more our contribution to the All Blacks," said coach Aussie McLean.

"We played each of those games early in the NPC without our All Blacks." He does not think the stadium will be a factor.

"I doubt the stadium will win the game for Wellington and I don't think Wellington think it will either," McLean said.

The other problem for Canterbury, if statistics mean anything, is that in this year's play-off matches, home advantage seemed to have been a major factor. All eight matches played so far in all three divisions have been won by the home side.

Balancing that, though, is the fact that in the NPC Finals of recent years, especially in Division One, away teams don't appear to have been too disadvantaged.

Auckland won in Hamilton in 2002 and in Wellington last year while Wellington succeeded against Canterbury in Christchurch in 2000.

Canterbury has been in excellent form recently plus they have shown that they can win under pressure away from home.

They have beaten Waikato in Hamilton, Auckland away and Bay of Plenty in Mt Maunganui to win back the Ranfurly Shield.

Canterbury has made only one change to the team that played in the semi-final: Cameron McIntyre comes in for Marika Vunibaka on the bench. Brad Thorn will be playing his last game for the province, before returning to the Brisbane Broncos Rugby League team.

Vunibaka will also play his last game if he enters the fray, because he is off to Japan at the end of the season.

Although Canterbury and the Super 12 Crusaders have been a dominant force in New Zealand rugby in the past decade the province's NPC record is relatively modest.

Under the old format Canterbury won Division One in 1977 and 1983 and in the new play-offs system they have twice been champions, in 1997 and 2001. Their other appearance in the NPC Final was in 2000 when they went down to Wellington.

Prediction: Although history is in the Lions favour, the experienced All Black half-back combination of Andrew Mehrtens and Justin Marshall will be the difference. A Canterbury victory by seven points or more.

The teams:

Wellington: 15. Shannon Paku, 14. Lome Fa'atau, 13. Conrad Smith, 12. Tana Umaga, 11. Ma'a Nonu, 10. Riki Flutey, 9. Piri Weepu, 8. Rodney So'oialo (captain.), 7. Ben Herring, 6. Kristian Ormsby, 5. Luke Andrews, 4. Ross Kennedy, 3. Neemia Tialata, 2. Mahonri Schwalger, 1. Joe McDonnell.
Replacements: Luke Mahoney, Tim Fairbrother, Ross Filipo, Thomas Waldrom, Scott Waldrom, Jimmy Gopperth, Sireli Bobo.

For Canterbury: 15 Daniel Carter, 14 Scott Hamilton, 13 Casey Laulala, 12 Aaron Mauger, 11 Caleb Ralph, 10 Andrew Mehrtens, 9 Justin Marshall, 8 Sam Broomhall, 7 Richie McCaw (captain), 6 Reuben Thorne, 5 Norm Maxwell, 4 Chris Jack, 3 Greg Somerville, 2 Corey Flynn, 1 Dave Hewett.
Replacements: 16 Tone Kopelani, 17 Campbell Johnstone, 18 Brad Thorn, 19 Johnny Leo'o, 20 Jamie Nutbrown, 21 Cameron McIntyre, 22 Ben Blair.

Referee: Paddy O'Brien (Southland)

Air New Zealand NPC promotion-relegation
(Saturday, October 23)

Nelson Bays v Northland
Nelson, 14:35

The big question for Nelson Bays is whether their feet will have reached the ground from the euphoria after last weekend's epic win over Hawke's Bay to take the NPC Division Two title.

"It was a special occasion," Love said of last weekend's victory.

"But we hope all the celebration has been done for now." Nelson Bays last won the Air New Zealand Division Two title in 1999, when ironically a former Northlander, Warren Johnston, kicked a late penalty goal.

Northland Coach Bruce Hodder was impressed by what he saw of Nelson Bays. "They're obviously a close-knit team with the ability to guts things out and win the tough games," he said.

In the past three years in which this match has been played, the challenging NPC Division Two team has been beaten decisively with Northland running up a big score in Napier last year against Hawke's Bay.