Loss paints unfair image of Plumtree's legacy

That's departing Wellington coach John Plumtree's legacy to the province. Even the most rampant Welly-phobes would concede that it's an unfair indictment.

Plumtree put on a typically stoic face, but you couldn't help but feel last night's 31-37 reverse was the one that hurt the most.

In 2003 against Auckland, and 2004 against Canterbury, Plumtree conceded his team was simply squashed by better sides carrying too many All Blacks for his men to cope with. Not so last night.

"Last night was a good opportunity for us to win... but it didn't happen," he said.

Wellington's run-in this season was timing perfection.

A last-gasp victory over Canterbury in the second round snowballed into emphatic victories over the same opponent in the quarter-final and a classic semifinal victory over Auckland last week.

However the timing skipped a beat against this unstinting, efficient Waikato XV.

"Our lineout let us down at crucial times. We just didn't hold on to possession long enough on attack and turned ball over at crucial times," Plumtree said.

"The things that we've been really good at for the past three or four weeks we just slipped up on tonight, which was disappointing."

Also disappointing, from the perspective of the capital, was the decision to award Waikato's All Black halfback Byron Kelleher a try straight after halftime, when the game was in the balance.

The ball was kicked through the Wellington scrum and Kelleher might have, or might not have, grounded it according to the laws of the game.

David Hill's sideline conversion put Wellington nine points behind and in a postion where they were forlornly trying to play catch-up for the rest of the match.

"I wasn't sure what happened in the scrum but it was a big moment," Plumtree said afterwards. "To not be the first team to score after halftime... was a psychological blow."

It was a psychological blow too, to lose in-form prop Neemia Tialata to injury before the match. He has been the cornerstone of Wellington's rise this season.

But still Wellington stayed in it to the end. In a moment of reflection, they might regret not trying for seven-pointers rather than multiples of three in the second half, but those decisions are often a case of damned if you do, damned if you don't.

"We got pretty close," Umaga said. "We were still [fighting] all the way 'til the end.

The 33-year-old now heads to France to play for Toulon, but says he'll be back in Wellington yellow-and-black next season.

"It's not a nice way to go out. You can't get rid of me," he said.

Plumtree, though, is gone to South Africa for the forseeable future at least. He, too, recognises this isn't the definition of leaving on a high.

"Oh yeah, three finals and three losses, it's not the nicest way to go out," he said. "But you know I'm proud of the team. We didn't quite get our game going tonight and we had a bit of bad luck with a couple of injuries and that's all it takes to be less effective in a final.