KEY POINTS:
Troy Flavell initially struggled to see the upside of yet another sinbinning, but ironically his yellow card amid a Wellington resurgence on Eden Park succeeded in galvanising Auckland's progression to their 16th provincial rugby crown.
The abrasive forward's season threatened to finish on a downer on Saturday night when he was marched by referee Chris Pollock in the 65th minute of Auckland's 23-14 Air NZ Cup victory - the product of a succession of breakdown infringements.
Flavell left the field venting his anger at Pollock and later claimed his reputation had again unfairly cast him in an unfavourable light.
Consigned to the sidelines 13 minutes after arriving as an impact player, Flavell's frustrations eased only when first five-eighth Isa Nacewa kicked a penalty, the only points scored during his suspension, to give Auckland an impregnable nine-point advantage.
After the match, with his first championship medal dangling around his neck, Flavell grudgingly saw the positive side to his absence, after Auckland manned up to prevent their campaign being tarnished at the final hurdle.
"It helped the guys in a sense. They played a lot tighter and on the positive side it was a benefit for us," said Flavell, still irate at being fingered for illegal play.
"I've got that reputation yeah, and I think he was trying to bring all that back, old Chris," he said.
"It's his call and you can't do anything about that shit."
Flavell has found it difficult to shrug off the persona he forged before returning to New Zealand from Japan in an unsuccessful bid to make the World Cup squad.
He was sinbinned in the Blues' Super 14 season opener against the Crusaders and received another dubious yellow card when playing against Southland.
While those matches were won comfortably, last night's contest was on a knife edge after Wellington fought back from a 3-14 deficit after half an hour.
A 35th-minute try to mobile lock Jeremy Thrush was the catalyst for Wellington's renewed self belief, a momentum that should have been enhanced by Flavell's demise.
Unfortunately for Wellington, Auckland responded to the rare threat of adversity.
"It might have been a blessing in disguise when Flav got yellow carded, it was a kick in the butt," flanker Daniel Braid said.
"We thought 'gee, we've got to get the ball and hang on to it', and we ran down the clock for most of those 10 minutes."
Coach Pat Lam also credited his side's defensive fortitude, while defending Flavell.
"We felt Troy was going for the ball legally and he got blown out from the side," Lam said.
"To lose him was a big call considering other incidents were overlooked for yellow cards.
"I take my hat off to Sam (captain Tuitupou), he just pulled the boys in and the 14 on the field really lifted and got us through that time."
Lam acknowledged the outcome could have been different had Jimmy Gopperth's resulting penalty narrowed the margin to 17-20, rather than cannoning off an upright.
Downcast Wellington players admitted an inability to profit from their numerical advantage hastened their downfall although coach Aussie McLean spread the blame.
"There were a lot of key moments in the match, we made a couple of errors in the first half and gifted them a couple of easy tries," McLean said.
"But I'm proud of our guys, we stuck at it the whole way. We just weren't good enough."
Lam, meanwhile, was both relieved and delighted his side matched the achievement of Gary Whetton's 1990 Auckland team by finishing the season unbeaten with the added bonus of the Ranfurly Shield.
A fringe member of that team, Lam said a stiffening of his squad's defensive structures since he took over in 2004 was a highlight of his tenure, along with his players' desire for continual improvement.
"To score 57 tries and only concede 15 is a great achievement but I'm as happy with what we've achieved off the field as a group of players," he said.
"We looked at every part or our game where we could improve and even when we were beating teams quite comfortably the next week guys would front up with areas of the game they could improve.
"They've put a lot of work in so I'm very pleased."
NZPA
