Hot and cold Wellington too good for Northland

Wellington's Ma'a Nonu runs through the tackle of Northland's Matt Faleuka to score his 3rd try. Picture / Fotopress

Wellington survived a sleepy spell in the second half to beat Northland 43-27 in their NPC first division rugby match at ITM Stadium, Northland today.

After dominating the first half, Wellington raced 38-13 clear when winger Lome Fa'atau crossed with half an hour remaining.

However, the visitors slackened off notably, conceding tries to dynamic Northland hooker Tim Dow and captain David Holwell.

It reduced the lead to 38-27 and was followed by another 10 minutes of pressure on the Wellington tryline.

Wellington held on and eventually replied with a try to first five-eighth Jimmy Gopperth, to make the game safe.

It was unnecessary pressure for Wellington to be under after they scored five effortless tries to one in the first half against opponents who failed to win a game last year.

That included a genuine hat-trick - three in a row - to unwanted All Blacks centre Ma'a Nonu as the Wellington backline constantly cut through their opposites.

The dominance of their scrum and lineout should have led to a much bigger win but Northland regrouped and the accurate boot of first five-eighth Holwell, who scored 17 points, kept their hopes alive.

Holwell, who played most of his provincial rugby for Wellington, cut short his tenure with Irish club Leinster to return and lead Northland this year.

He had an admirable game but wouldn't have enjoyed being bumped off by opposite Gopperth to let in Wellington's first try.

Holwell had mixed emotions afterwards.

"It was great to come up against them, there were a lot of mates who I've played with for years," he said.

"Obviously I'm pretty disappointed with the outcome but full credit to Wellington, they played a lot of rugby today.

"Our defence wasn't up to it, we let in too many easy tries, Ma'a got that hat-trick and the game got away on us."

Earlier Northland winger Michael Rowe crossed for the first try of the game in the second minute but they were shut out for the next 40 minutes.

Wellington's best were Super 12 stalwarts - No 8 Thomas Waldrom, lock Luke Andrews, second five-eighth Tane Tuipulotu and fullback Shannon Paku.

Wellington captain Joe McDonnell, who left the game midway through the second half with a shoulder injury, said his team had plenty to work on.

"There were a lot of mistakes and we put ourselves under a lot of pressure," he said.

"The more games we play, a lot of those things we'll start fixing."

Wellington 43 (Ma'a Nonu 3, Jimmy Gopperth 2, Roy Kinikinilau, Lome Fa'atau tries; Gopperth 4 con)

Northland 27 (Mike Rowe, Tim Dow, David Holwell tries; Holwell 2 pen, 3 con).

Halftime: 31-13.

- NZPA