NPC Number Crunching: Wellington Lions v Taranaki

Above: When Wellington beat Taranaki in 2004. 

The Wellington Lions secured a 0/10 season record with their final round loss to the Taranaki Bulls in New Plymouth on Sunday.

In his final stat attack of the year, Peter Marriott looks at the game below.

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Round 10 v Taranaki: Lost 26-68

The 2026 National Provincial Championship season is over for the Wellington Lions.

With 10 losses from 10 matches the Lions have had their worst season ever, in 51 years of NPC rugby. Their previous annus horribilis was in 2014 when they won just one of the 10 matches they played.

With losses in their final two matches in 2025 the Lions have extended their worst-ever sequence of defeats to 12 on the trot.

The Lions and Taranaki have now met on 39 occasions. The Lions have won 31 matches and Taranaki eight. Taranaki also won their previous encounter last season, also in New Plymouth, to make it two wins in a row for the first time.

Of the 20 matches hosted by Taranaki they have won six and the Lions 14. This was a record third loss for the Lions in away matches to Taranaki.

For this match Stadium Taranaki was renamed Jared Proffit Stadium in honour of their #1 Prop who was making his 100th appearance for Taranaki.

Taranaki’s 68 points is their highest score against the Lions beating their previous best of 54 points in their 54-31 win at Wellington in 2016.

Apparently Taranaki has now scored 50 points or more in three successive matches, for the first time.

The Lions conceded 68 points in a NPC match for the first time and opposition sides have now scored 50 or more points against them 16 times.

Those 68 points have only been bettered twice before: in 1997 (lost 7-73 to Canterbury) and in 1998 (lost 10-82 against Otago).

Taranaki’s winning margin of 42 points is a new record for them against Wellington. The previous best was 23 in their 54-31 win in 2016.

In 2026 alone the Lions have conceded 50 or more points five times, three times they have conceded points in the 40s, and twice in the 30s.

The total points conceded in 2026 is a record 502: their previous worst season was 381 points in 2014.

The Lions aggregated 239 points this year: the fewest since their 214 points in 2014.

They did bring up 500 points against Taranaki though. The total stands at 523 and they are the sixth side which the Lions have scored 500 points against.

The Lions conceded 10 tries in a match twice this season: against Canterbury in Round 7 and against Taranaki. They have now had 10 or more tries scored against them four times: the first two were by Canterbury (11 in 1997) and Otago (12 in 1998). In the match against Canterbury nine of the 11 tries were converted: the nine tries converted by Taranaki equalled that record.

The match against Canterbury in Round 7 was in Christchurch meaning the Lions conceded the 10 tries at successive away venues.

Taranaki brought up 100 tries against the Lions in this match. They are the sixth side to reach this milestone. Their total now stands at 101.

This is the first time Taranaki have scored 10 tries in a match against the Lions. Their previous best was seven tries in their 54-31 win in 2016.

The Lions have now conceded 703 tries in all away matches.

The total number of tries conceded by the Lions this year reached new heights (76), well exceeding the previous record of 49 achieved twice: in 2014 and 2025.

The Lions scored 36 tries: the fewest since they totalled 24 in 2014.

The Lions were reluctant to kick penalty goals and in fact attempted just one during the whole season.

The kick was taken by Cameron Burgess against Otago, and was successful. This is a new record for the fewest penalties kicked in 51 seasons of NPC, bettering the five which were kicked last year.

The Lions have lost all five of their away matches played this year. This is the third time they have done so: also in 1989 and 2014. The losses in 2026, plus the last four matches in 2025, extends their record to nine successive defeats away from home.

Overall the Lions have played 263 away matches for 138 wins (52.5%), 117 losses and eight draws.

Callum Harkin was the first to score for the Lions, a try in the 16th minute. He scored a second try just before halftime. Harkin now has seven tries in 27 appearances for the Lions. He had one attempt at a conversion in the match with an unusual outcome. The ball initially hit the left-hand upright and then hit the right-hand upright. It did not go over the crossbar.

In the last three matches Harkin has worn jerseys #10, #15 and #12 respectively.

This was the second time Harkin had scored more than one try in a match. He, in fact, scored three against Southland in the match which preceded the one against Taranaki last year.

Callum Harkin was the top point scorer with 51 points. Amazingly, we have to go back to 1977 to find Brian Cederwall was the last top point scorer (25) in a season who registered fewer points than Harkin.

Dominic Ropeti scored his 11th try in his 40th match. By coincidence he scored a double in the same match as Harkin against Southland.

Both Harkin and Ropeti also scored a try against Taranaki in last year’s match.

Ropeti, along with Du’Plessis Kirifi and Reo Matsushita, were the Lions top try scorers in 2026 with four apiece.

Dominic Ropeti was one of six players to appear in all 10 matches. He, however, started in the most (nine). Ropeti also played the most minutes: 760 out of a possible 800.

William Davis scored his first try in his seventh match.

Stanley Solomon took his first-ever place kicks for the Lions and was successful with all three conversion attempts.

Sam Thomson made his debut off the bench when he replaced Matolu Petaia in the 70th minute. He took the number of players to have made at least one appearance this season to 35, including 16 debutants.

Murphy Taramai made his first start in his 10th appearance for the Lions. He had made his debut for the Lions off the bench on 5 October 2014 against Taranaki, his only appearance of that season. He did not reappear until this season so it could be intimated it took him one day short of 12 years before he got his first start for the Lions.

For Taranaki Arese Poliko (two), Reuben O’Neill, Adam Lennox, Jayden Sa and Keightley Watson all scored tries against the Lions for the first time.

Kini Naholo’s try was his third against the Lions whilst Bradley Slater and Logan Crowley both scored their second try.

Crowley’s try was the 100th to be scored for Taranaki against Wellington.

He, (who probably has one of the longest surnames in rugby: 22 letters and not including the hyphen), Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens, scored his second try against the Lions.

Josh Jacomb kicked 18 points to go with the 16 he had kicked in previous matches against the Lions.

Beauden returned to the side having last played for Taranaki on 19 September 2020 against Canterbury and winning the Ranfurly Shield in doing so. On that day he played alongside brother Jordie.

In this match Beauden teamed up for the very first time with his other brother Scott who was making just his third appearance for Taranaki: his second in 2026. Scott had first played for Taranaki in 2021 against Southland when he made his one and only previous appearance for the union.

Taranaki retained the John F Henning Trophy.

Taranaki have played 426 NPC matches for 195 wins (45.8%), 225 losses and six draws. They missed nine seasons in the top division namely in 1976, 1980 to 1985 inclusive, 1992 and 1995.

The referee was Marcus Playle who was also in charge of the Round 4 match against Otago. He has now controlled the Wellington Lions four times.

The Wellington Lions have played 533 NPC matches for 330 wins (61.9%), 191 losses and 12 draws.

The Lions winning percentage when taken to two decimal places is 61.91%, the lowest it has been since they beat Counties Manukau 33-18 at Mount Smart Stadium in Auckland on 31 August 2007. At the end of that game the winning percentage stood at 61.88%. In the overall scheme of things that was match #307 for the Lions.