Auckland secure semis home advantage

Brad Mika kisses his wrist after scoring a try against Wellington last night. Picture / Dean Purcell

Auckland 29 Wellington 22

Auckland have a home semifinal and Wellington's top four prospects hang by a thread after a cliffhanger finish at Eden Park last night.

Auckland got the job done after a patchy first half, but Wellington battled furiously in the final stages.

Their bonus point last night got them to 22 points, but they still trail Auckland, on 33, Canterbury 29 and Otago with 23 while North Harbour, on 22, host Taranaki tonight.

A strong third quarter did the trick for Auckland before an ordinary crowd last night.

In contrast to the hot and cold first half, Auckland got off to a flier after the interval.

Eight players were involved in the buildup before Daniel Braid took the final pass to score an excellent try.

It was reward for strong support play, in which Sam Tuitupou's contribution was critical.

The game seemed to have moved irretrievably away from Wellington when No 8 Brad Mika scored a stunning second try, stunning for its out-of-the-blue quality.

As halfback Steve Devine prepared to unload from the back of a scrum on Wellington's 22, Mika simply picked it up and ran through a huge gap behind the ruck, swerved round Tamati Ellison and scored.

At 20-8 it seemed safe, but Ellison cut past two tackles and enabled Ma'a Nonu to speed 25m to score to keep Wellington in the hunt.

Three Brent Ward penalties late in the piece - he nailed seven from eight last night for 19 points - either side of a Lome Fa'atau runaway try made sure of the points.

Wellington were out of the blocks far quicker at the start and dominated the early stages.

At one point, it seemed a relentless surge of black and yellow must split the Auckland defensive line. That it didn't was credit to some yeoman tackling.

Auckland seemed their own worst enemy, too often on such an important occasion.

Possession was frittered away, either with bumbly fingers, sloppy lineout work or not protecting the ball having taken it into the breakdown.

There was plenty of willing work. The first time All Black captain Tana Umaga got the ball he tried an inside step to be met by Ali Williams in a crunching tackle of the "g'day pal, good to see you again" variety.

Slowly Auckland found their bearings but it was like a spluttering engine on a cold morning. A flash of inspiration one moment would be followed frustratingly by a turnover.

Jimmy Gopperth put Wellington in front with a third-minute penalty before fullback Shannon Paku set up a brilliant try.

Umaga's cutout pass enabled Paku to slice between Ben Atiga and Joe Rokocoko. He grubber-kicked ahead for Fa'atau to grab the ball and dive over in the corner before Rokocoko and Doug Howlett could stop him.

That was Paku's last involvement as he limped off after colliding with Ward.

Shortly after Ward was flattened by a high shot from Ross Filipo which earned a warning - and cost three points from Ward's resulting penalty.

Things were starting to happen for Auckland, as Daniel Braid and Ward made big ground-eating runs, then Ward superbly slipped through Wellington's defence but Derren Witcombe could not finish it off at the corner.

Result:
Auckland 29 (D. Braid, B. Mika tries; B. Ward 5 pen, 2 con)
Wellington 22 (L. Fa'atau 2, M. Nonu tries; J. Gopperth pen, 2 con). HT: 6-8.