Wellington Lions eye Bunnings Warehouse NPC title
Wellington Lions Head Coach Leo Crowley has named an unchanged lineup to face Canterbury in Saturday’s Bunnings Warehouse NPC decider at Christchurch’s Orangetheory Stadium.
Riding a nine-game winning streak, including winning and retaining the Ranfurly Shield along the way, and fresh off a 54-19 semi-final demolition of Auckland, the Lions have real momentum heading into the final.
The Lions succumbed to just two loses in the early part of the season. Their first back in week two when they lost to Canterbury, 43-10.
Eager for another chance to defeat Canterbury, the Lions are hoping to walk away as the season’s title holders for the first time in 22 years.
Head Coach Leo Crowley said: “It’s been an exciting week. The boys are really looking forward to it. We've prepared well, and know the stakes are high. The rewards of a good performance on Saturday will remain with the team for a long time.”
Nine of this weekend’s 23 were part of the Lions side who fell short to Tasman in the 2019 final and will be hoping to be on the other side of the ledger come Saturday.
One of the nine, Lions captain Du’Plessis Kirifi will lead the side in his second final.
“The last nine games have shown how much this team has grown. There were nine of us in the final back in 2019 and that’s a good amount of experience to guide the guys who haven’t experienced finals footy,” said Kirifi.
When reflecting on what has changed within the group between their early losses and now, Kirifi feels that the Lions are different side to the one that fell to Canterbury in round two.
“I believe we are a different team to the one that ran out that day.”
“Boys have really got into the groove of their position and are in a nice flow, and we’ve gelled better as a team as the season has gone on. Although that was an ugly game, not to take anything away from Canterbury, they played unreal, but that’s definitely not how we will be aiming to play on Saturday night,” said Kirifi.
The highly anticipated match is set to kick off on Saturday evening, 7:05PM, at Orangetheory Stadium. The match will be aired live on Sky Sport.
Wellington Lions to take on Auckland:
1. Xavier Numia, Oriental-Rongotai
2. Asafo Aumua, Avalon
3. Pekahou Cowan, Petone
4. James Blackwell, Petone
5. Dominic Bird, Upper Hutt RAMS
6. Caleb Delany, Old Boys University
7. Du’Plessis Kirifi, Northern United (C)
8. Peter Lakai, Petone
9. TJ Perenara, Northern United
10. Jackson Garden-Bachop, Northern United
11. Pepesana Patafilo, Tawa
12. Riley Higgins, Petone
13. Billy Proctor, Marist St Pats
14. Julian Savea, Oriental-Rongotai
15. Ruben Love, Wainuiomata
IMPACT
16. James O’Reilly, Hutt Old Boys Marist
17. PJ Sheck, Tawa
18. Tietie Tuimauga, Marist St Pats
19. Taine Plumtree, Old Boys University
20. Keelan Whitman, Marist St Pats
21. Richard Judd, Paremata-Plimmerton
22. Aidan Morgan, Marist St Pats
23. Connor Garden-Bachop, Northern United
Unavailable for Selection: Vince Sakaria, Connor Collins, Iona Apineru, Josh Toómaga, Solomona Sakalia, Peter Umaga-Jensen