Wellington still winless in NPC
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The Wellington Lions continued their winless run in the National Provincial Championship this season by going down 31-30 to Auckland.
In what would have been an immensely frustrating afternoon at the office for Wellington head coach Chris Boyd, Auckland have defeated the Lions 31-30 at Eden Park after the tourists were unable to register a single point in the second half.
The Lions, last year’s NPC Premiership finalists, are now without a victory in their first four matches, and will end the round at the bottom of the table.
Things couldn’t get much worse for Wellington, who now head to the airport for the trip down to Canterbury for a rematch of the 2013 decider.
Auckland meanwhile, with their second win of the season, will move provisionally into the top four of the Premiership, with their next match against Championship strugglers Bay of Plenty.
Meanwhile, Taranaki have continued their resurgence with a statement making 41-19 victory over the Stags at Yarrow Stadium.
It was an impressive performance from Colin Cooper’s troops, who have signalled that they will be a threat in this competition, and pending on other results this weekend the Amber and Blacks could finish the round second in the Premiership.
Southland, who showed plenty of fight and ticker throughout the game, were ultimately outclassed by a rampant Taranaki forward pack and smart attacking game engineered by the likes of Marty McKenzie.
All of Saturday's scorers:
Taranaki 41-19 Southland
For Taranaki:
Tries: Gibson-Park, Thomson 2, Iopu-Aso, Tamanivalu, Broadhurst
Cons: McKenzie 3, Rei
DG: McKenzie
For Southland:
Tries: Hardie, Halaholo
Cons: Sopoaga 2
Auckland 31-30 Wellington
For Auckland:
Tries: Gibson, Hickey, Aso
Cons: Anscombe, Hickey
Pens: Anscombe 4
For Wellington:
Tries: Umaga-Marshall, Treeby, Curtis
Cons: Woodward 3
Pens: Woodward 3
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