Rugby: Canterbury and Wellington unchanged for final

Casey Laulala plays his last game for Canterbury on Saturday before taking up a contract with Cardiff. Photo / Getty Images

Canterbury and Wellington have stuck with winning formulas, naming unchanged sides for Saturday's Air NZ Cup rugby final at Christchurch.

Canterbury coaches Rob Penney and Tabai Matson have retained the starting lineup and reserves who beat Hawke's Bay 20-3 in last week's semifinal and Wellington coach Jamie Joseph has done the same after their 34-21 semifinal win over Southland.

"The boys are really excited about the challenge ahead," Penney said.

"It will be difficult because Wellington are a very good side but we are determined to give it everything."

Joseph said there had been a lot of debate over Wellington's lineup.

"But at the end of the day we kept on coming back to the same thing, which is that the team that played last week played really well.

"The way they approached the week this week was good as well. We've just stuck with what we've got."

The match will pit two of the competition's top try scorers, Canterbury's Sean Maitland and Wellington's Hosea Gear, against each other.

Hawke's Bay wing Zac Guildford, on tour with the All Blacks, leads the try tally with 13, with Gear second on 11 and Maitland third with eight.

"This match should be an absolute cracker. Both teams like to run the ball so there will be no shortage of excitement," Penney said.

Canterbury
Colin Slade, Sean Maitland, Casey Laulala, Tim Bateman, Tu Umaga-Marshall, Stephen Brett, Tyson Keats, Nasi Manu, George Whitelock (captain), Michael Paterson, Isaac Ross, Samuel Whitelock, Peter Borlase, Ti'i Paulo, Andrew Olorenshaw.

Reserves: Steve Fualau, Rodney Ah You, Ash Parker, Matt Todd, Willi Heinz, Ryan Crotty, James Paterson.

Wellington
Apoua Stewart, David Smith, Alapati Leuia, Shaun Treeby, Hosea Gear, Piri Weepu, Alby Mathewson, Mathew Luamanu, Serge Lilo, Victor Vito, Daniel Ramsay, Jacob Ellison (captain), Anthony Perenise, Ged Robinson, John Schwalger.

Reserves: Dane Coles, Arden David-Perrot, Mark Reddish, Scott Fuglistaller, Fa'atonu Fili, Robert Fruean, Daniel Kirkpatrick.

- NZPA