Wellington v Waikato Quarter-final Stat Attack

• By Peter Marriott

Quarter-final: Wellington (32) v Waikato (28)

Wellington and Waikato have now met 47 times at NPC level. Wellington has won on 27 occasions and Waikato 20. So far there have been no drawn matches.

For the first time since 2005, Wellington has won three matches in a row against Waikato.

In home matches Wellington has won 15 of the 20 played including the last three in succession. Waikato has won the other five but not since 2016.

Wellington has scored four tries or more in each of their last nine matches against Waikato.

In all NPC matches, Wellington has scored 1723 tries and conceded 1223: a difference of exactly 500 tries.

Wellington has been ahead at halftime in every one of their NPC matches this season with the exception  of their first encounter, against Manawatu.

For the second match in succession, Wellington made three changes to their starting line-up compared  to the XV which started in the previous match against Hawke’s Bay. There were two changes in the backs and one in the forwards.

Over the years there have been many iterations of the finals in the NPC but Wellington has now been involved in five Quarterfinals, all of which they have won. And they have all been in Wellington: 2006 v Canterbury (Won 36-23), 2007 v Southland (Won 45-3), 2008 v Taranaki (Won 50-30), 2022 v Hawke’s Bay (won 28-21) and 2023 v Waikato (Won 32-28).

Wellington was never headed by Waikato at any stage during the match although for about 10 minutes  in the first half there was only a difference in the score of one point. In fact, Wellington has never been behind on the scoreboard in seven of their 11 matches played so far.

Riley Higgins, who started his first match in the No. 11 jersey, scored his seventh try, in his 18th  appearance for Wellington.

James O’Reilly scored his 11th try for Wellington, and his second against Waikato (also in 2022).

Julian Savea scored his 23rd try in his 62nd match for Wellington. He had previously scored three tries against Waikato: in 2010, 2020 and 2021.

Du’Plessis Kirifi scored his 14th try for Wellington and his second against Waikato: his first was scored in 2021.

Aidan Morgan kicked 12 points to take his total in all matches against Waikato to 31. Morgan started this NPC match on 85 points and now has 97 for the season. Ironically of the three kicks he missed, two of them (a conversion and a penalty) both hit the uprights: one to the right and the other to the left.

Two players on the bench for this match, Sam Clarke and Kyle Preston, did not take the field.

Three of the four Waikato try scorers, Pita Anae Ah-Sue, Sean Ralph and Tana Tuhakaraina, had not previously scored against Wellington.

This was James Tucker’s second try against Wellington: his first was scored during the earlier match in Round Six.

Te Paea Cook-Savage kicked four points to go with the nine points he scored in the earlier match in Round Six.

Taha Kemara rounded out Waikato’s points with two conversions, the first of which was a drop goal.

Two of Waikato’s replacements namely Austin Anderson and Quintony Ngatai, did not take the field.

At the 80+1 minute mark a Golden Oldies Scrum was called as Wellington’s starting Hooker (James O’Reilly) and his replacement (Peniela Poasa) were both unavailable: the former because he had  had to leave the field at the request of the Match Doctor, and the latter due to failing an earlier HIA test. It was Waikato’s feed into the scrum which was just short of the Wellington line. What followed was  almost five minutes of the home side having to defend and it was only after holding out Waikato for a  reported 32 phases before effecting a turnover, that they managed to save the match.

Wellington’s overall record in the NPC is: played 499 matches, won 316 (63.3%), lost 171 and drawn 12.

With a place in the Semifinals, Wellington will bring up their 500th NPC match in the 48th year of competition. Only one other side has played 500 matches in the NPC and that is Canterbury which is due to bring up their 508th match in their Semifinal.