Wellington Lions v Bay of Plenty Stat Attack

The Wellington Lions beat the Bay of Plenty Steamers 30-25 on Saturday in their seventh round NPC fixture.

Some facts and figures from the game below by Peter Marriott.

Round 7 v Bay of Plenty: Won 30-25 (Golden Point)

Wellington and Bay of Plenty have now met on 38 occasions in the NPC. Wellington has won 30 of those matches, Bay of Plenty has won six and there have been two draws.

Taranaki is the only side to have been beaten more often by Wellington: 31 times in 37 encounters.

At the end of Round 7, Wellington remains at the top of the Standings for the third week in a row.

This was the Lions’ fourth home match in 2024 but the first at Sky Stadium. The previous three matches had all been played at the Jerry Collins Stadium in Porirua.

Wellington and Bay of Plenty were tied 25-25 at the end of regulation play which sent the two sides into Golden Point: the first to score would win the match.

Wellington has been involved in two previous matches which went to Golden Point. In 2020, after being tied 26-26 after 80 minutes with Canterbury in Christchurch, the home team scored a try in the 5th minute to win the match 31-26.

In 2020 Wellington, at home, were again tied with Canterbury at the end of regular play: the score was 30-30. Peter Umaga-Jensen scored a try in the second minute and victory went to Wellington 35-30.

In this match against Bay of Plenty the full-time score was 25-25. This time the result was determined rather more quickly. Kyle Preston won the race to the ball kicked ahead by Riley Higgins forcing it down just inside the dead-ball line after 58 seconds of extra time: a second win (30-25) to Wellington in a match which went to Golden Point.

Four Wellington players have been involved in all three Golden Point matches. They are Xavier Numia, Pepesana Patafilo, Julian Savea and Peter Umaga-Jensen.

The Lions have won their last six matches in a row at home against Bay of Plenty and 10 of the last 11 played in Wellington.
Bay of Plenty has not won in Wellington since beating the home side 31-24 in 2010.

The Lions made six changes in their starting XV from the one which played in the previous match against Tasman. There were three changes in the forwards and three in the backs.

Riley Higgins scored his 12th try for the Lions in his 26th match. It was his third against Bay of Plenty: he scored twice during the match played in 2022.

Leni Apisai’s try was his eighth in 37 matches for Wellington. He also represented Auckland from 2019 to 2023 and scored eight tries for them in 39 appearances.

In 69 matches for the Lions, Julian Savea has now scored 26 tries. He had previously touched down against Bay of Plenty in the 2017 Final when Wellington won promotion back to the Premiership, and twice in the same match as Riley Higgins.

Kyle Preston scored the match winning try: his sixth for Wellington in his 19th match.

Jackson Garden-Bachop’s 10 points off the boot took his tally for the season to 57. He made his debut for the Lions in 2013 but was not the dedicated kicker that year or in 2014, 2015 and 2021. He did notplay in 2023. In the seven years he has been the side’s main goal kicker he has never failed to bring up 50 points. He scored 100 points in three of those years and was in the nineties in two others.
His “worst” year was 2020 when he scored “only” 88 points.

In 96 appearances for Wellington Garden-Bachop has scored 763 points including 61 against Bay of Plenty.

Penieli Poasa (ninth minute) and Akira Ieremia (32nd minute) were sent off the field for an HIA. Both players failed their scan.
After scoring a try in each of his six previous matches Tjay Clarke failed to score one against Bay of Plenty.

Callum Harkin was on the replacement bench but was not called upon to take the field.

Incumbent captain, Du’Plessis Kirifi has missed the last five matches due to injury. His previous worst sequence of unavailability was when he did not appear for the last four matches in 2020.

Three of the Bay of Plenty replacements were not used.

Angus Mabey blew the whistle in his third match involving the Lions. They have yet to lose a match with him in charge. Mabey also controlled the Lions match against Bay of Plenty in Rotorua last year.

This was Old Timers’ Day for Wellington and the current players saluted the former players who had gathered to watch the match. The team wore hats which were doffed and laid on the ground.

Wellington’s overall record in the NPC is: played 508 matches, won 323 (63.6%), lost 173 and drawn 12.