Wellington Lions v Auckland some numbers and stats

Round 5 v Auckland: Won 36-17

Wellington and Auckland have now met on 51 occasions in the NPC. Auckland has won 31 times and Wellington 20 times. There have been no draws although two matches (one each) have been won by one point.

The Wellington Lions record in home matches against Auckland is: played 24, won 11 and lost 13.

This was the first time Wellington has hosted Auckland at the Jerry Collins Stadium in Porirua. The home team has now played nine NPC matches at this ground for five wins and four losses. Two of those losses were in this season with Wellington losing their first two outings in Porirua to Canterbury and Otago.

The Lions win extended their best-ever winning streak against Auckland in the NPC to five matches in a row. Their last loss to Auckland was at Auckland in the Semi-final of 2018 (17-38).

Auckland, on the other hand, beat Wellington five times in a row between 1987 and 1991 but went better between 1993 and 2000 when they won nine times in succession. Those two sequences were separated by one match: at the old Athletic Park when the home side won 17-9 in 1992.

Wellington’s winning margins in their last five matches against Auckland have been: 19 points, 18, 35 (the Wellington record in NPC matches), eight and 19.

During this match Wellington brought up their 14,000th point in NPC rugby. The total now sits on 14,030. They also brought up 1,800 tries in all matches. That total now sits on 1,804 tries.

Auckland’s third and last try was their 150th against Wellington in NPC matches. Only Canterbury, with 175 tries, has scored more against Wellington.

Auckland has had the worst possible start to their 2025 campaign losing all five matches played so far. They also lost their last three matches in 2024 having earlier lost the first four of the season.

The Wellington Lions have scored 36 points in a NPC match on 14 occasions, losing just once. That was a close run thing (36-37) against Otago at Wellington in 2015.

Wellington’s win against Auckland meant they retained the Fred Lucas Memorial Cup which they have held since 2019.

Before the match the Wellington side celebrated Old Timers’ Day with a line-up in front of former players.

Wellington made six changes to the starting XV from that which started in the previous match against Manawatu: three changes in the forwards and three in the backs.

At the end of Round 5, the Wellington Lions are in ninth place in the Standings, up from 11th place last week.

After five matches Wellington has employed 30 players of which seven have started in every one of them. They are Caleb Delany, Jackson Garden-Bachop, Akira Ieremia, Xavier Numia, Hugo Plummer, Matt Proctor and Julian Savea. Five others have also played in every match but at least one of their appearances was off the bench.

Delany and Savea are the only two who have played every minute.

In the absence of the incumbent captain Brad Shields,Savea led the side for the second time in 2025. He has now been in charge five times (there were also three occasions in 2017) and has yet to register a loss.

Asafo Aumua was forced to leave the field in the 28th minute for a HIA, which he failed.

Ruben Love opened the scoring with a try in just the second minute. It was his 13th try in 43 appearances. He also scored a try in the match against Auckland in 2022.

Love’s try was the 250th to be scored in this year’s competition.

Xavier Numia scored his ninth try in his 77th match for the Lions.

Hugo Plummer scored his second try of the season: it was his fourth overall in 26 matches.

Losi Filipo’s try was his third in 2025 and he has now scored 15 tries in 31 appearances for the Lions.

After having come off the bench and been on the field a matter of 14 minutes,Kenshi Yamamoto scored his maiden try for Wellington, in his fourth match.

Jackson Garden-Bachop kicked 11 points to take his tally in 2025 to exactly 50. Garden-Bachop has now played 105 matches for Wellington and his grand total of points is 833. In all matches against Auckland he has amassed 74 points.

Garden-Bachop is inching ever-closer to Allan Hewson’s record points total for Wellington of 893 and is now just 60 points shy of equalling it. After five matches he averages 10 points per match and with five regular season rounds remaining he could go close. There is also the chance of Wellington playing in a Quarter-final match and maybe a Semi-final. Time will tell, as will his availability and the vagaries of selection.

It is interesting to note Garden-Bachop has kicked many more conversions than Hewson (232 to 172) but Hewson leads with penalties (161 to 96).

Two of Auckland’s try scorers, Angus Ta’avao and Caleb Tangitau, scored for the first time against Wellington. The other, Caleb Clarke, also scored a try in the match played at Auckland in 2020.

Rico Simpson missed two of his three conversions and in his rush to convert Tangitau’s try scored in the 80th minute, fluffed his attempt at a quick drop kick.

Mike Winter controlled his fourth match which involved Wellington. His first was way back in 2017.

Wellington’s overall record in the NPC is: played 518 matches, won 329 (63.5%), lost 177 and drawn 12.