Wellington Lions v Northland Taniwha Facts & Figures

Round 7 v Northland: Lost 26-43

This was the 37th NPC match between the Wellington Lions and the Northland Taniwha. Wellington has won 29 times to Northland’s eight.

Northland has played all of their home matches in Whangarei and their record at this venue against Wellington is: played 16, won five and lost 11.

The ground has been known by many different names starting with Okara Park to be followed by Northland Rugby Stadium, ITM Stadium, Toll Stadium and now Semenoff Stadium.

This was the Lions first loss in Whangarei since 2014 when Northland won 35-5.

The two sides had in fact not met in Whangarei since 2016.

Northland has beaten Wellington in their last two encounters: the previous time was in Porirua in 2022 when the visitors won 15-6. Wellington had not lost two matches in a row to Northland since 1999/2000 but their worst losing sequence is three in a row between 1989 and 1991.

This match was played on Thursday, the first time the Lions have played on this day since beating Counties Manukau 29-22 at Wellington in 2019.

Northland’s 43 points is a new highest score against Wellington bettering the 37 they scored in their 37-10 win at Whangarei in 1989.

Northland’s six tries in this match equals their record number against Wellington which they scored in the match mentioned above. In those days a try was worth four points.

The Lions have lost their last three away matches in a row. This last happened when the first three in 2021 were all lost but before then all five away matches in 2014 resulted in losses.

Wellington was awarded a penalty try against Northland. This was the first for any side this year and it came in the 43rd match. Another was awarded in the very next game and five matches after that a third was issued.

It was Wellington’s first penalty try since they played Hawke’s Bay in the Quarter-final of 2022, a match won by Wellington by seven points (28-21).

During the match with Northland the points aggregate in all of Wellington’s NPC matches (520) passed 25,000 points and now sits on 25,010. Wellington has scored 14,075 of those and all opposition sidestogether total 10,935.

Wellington also brought up 150 tries against Northland: that total now sits on 152. Northland is the sixth side to have conceded 150 tries against Wellington: the others are Waikato (173), Canterbury (171), Taranaki (158), Bay of Plenty (157) and Otago (151).

During the match a yellow card was awarded to each side. Terrell Peita was the naughty boy for Northland and Sione Halalilo was it for Wellington. Northland has now received three yellow cards in 2025: it was the first for Wellington.

With the referee showing a generosity in issuing yellow cards perhaps it is time to again re-name the venue Sendmenoff Stadium.

The Lions made seven changes to their starting line-up against Northland compared to those who started against Hawke’s Bay the previous round. Three changes were made in the backs and four in the forwards.

There were just four days grace between Wellington’s matches against Hawke’s Bay and Northland.

Julian Savea experienced his first loss as Lions captain in his sixth match in charge.

Dominic Ropeti scored his fourth try in his 27th match.

Esi Komaisavai has scored three tries in his six appearances for the Lions.

Losi Filipo scored his fourth try in 2025 and now has 16 in 33 matches.

All three players scored their first try against Northland.

Jackson Garden-Bachop picked up another four points to take his total in 107 matches for the Lions to 841. Of that total 71 have been scored against Northland.

Teofilo Paulo made his first appearance of the season. He takes the number of players to have made at least one appearance for the Lions in 2025 to 34, including seven debutants.

Two players on the Wellington bench, namely Kapu Broughton-Winterburn and Kenshi Yamamoto, did not take part in the match. For Yamamoto it was the second time this season he has failed to get onto the field after being listed as a replacement. It also happened against Waikato.

Terrell Peita scored a brace against Wellington. He is the first to score two tries for Northland since Aorangi Stokes crossed for two at Wellington in 2019.

The other four try scorers Captain Matt Moulds, Jake Heenan, Jordan Trainor and Nathan Salmon all scored for the first time against the Lions.

Rivez Reihana kicked 13 points to take his total in all matches against the Lions to 20.

Australian referee Angus Gardner had the whistle for his second NPC match which involved Wellington.

He also was in charge of their match against Otago at Wellington in 2020 which the hosts lost 34-35.

Other overseas referees have controlled Wellington NPC matches including Shuhei Kubo from Japan in 2017 and 2018 as well as Frank Murphy from Ireland in 2019.

After seven rounds Wellington lie in 10th place in the Standings, up from 11th the previous week. For Northland they have moved into the top eight for the first time to actually lie in eighth place.

Northland is enjoying a good season compared to some in recent history. They have won four matches so far but in the four seasons prior to this one their winning ways were somewhat erratic. In 2021 they won one match, in 2022 it was six, but in 2023 and 2024 it was just two in each year.

Comparisons can sometimes be meaningless but since 2021 Northland has won 15 matches. Wellington has won 37.

Wellington’s overall record in the NPC is: played 520 matches, won 329 (63.3%), lost 179 and drawn 12.