KEY POINTS:
AIR NZ CUP Auckland 0 Wellington 27
When long-time pain and suffering ends, no one really cares too much about the detail behind the reasons why.
Wellington, on that basis, won't be wondering how they won last night - all they know is that for the first time in 26 years the Ranfurly Shield is theirs. All they care about is that after 10 unsuccessful efforts to wrestle it back, they finally have it. Lucky number 11.
For a side that has a reputation for getting a little edgy on the big occasion, this performance laid many a ghost to rest. There was no sign of nerves. There was no dramatic attempt to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Wellington were controlled, disciplined and confident and it will be for Auckland to work out where it all went wrong. They dominated possession for large periods and spent long enough in Wellington territory to plant a flag and ship the family in.
Yet they couldn't make any of their toil show up on the scoreboard. In the final third they were too lateral, made too many mistakes and couldn't think in the face of an unrelenting black defensive line.
Without points, Auckland couldn't apply any real pressure and Wellington knew it. They knew Auckland had made most of the running in the first 50 minutes and had nothing to show for it - the most demoralising combination in rugby.
But what impressed most about Wellington was they knew they could cope with whatever Auckland threw at them. The whole time Auckland were laying siege, there was no sense of panic in the Lions' ranks, it was if they had seen it all before and knew patience was their greatest ally.
That confidence started to surface as the game wore on and Auckland wore out. Wellington have faith in their conditioning. They know their superior fitness will pay dividends in the final quarter and that was the case again last night.
The final 20 minutes were all about icing the cake. It was as if Wellington realised there would not be many occasions when they could run rampant on Eden Park and it was best to make the most of it.
Ross Filipo's try on 60 minutes put Wellington out of reach and from there they opened the throttle and trusted their skills to do the damage.
That was different to the first 60 minutes where they had to soak it all up and hit on the counter-attack with a precision that Auckland would have killed for. The visitors barely touched the ball in the first 20 minutes and then bam, they socked Auckland between the eyes in one lightning hit.
Cory Jane fielded a high kick, beat the first tackler, fed to Api Naikatini on his left who lofted a neat pass in-field to Victor Vito who ran and ran until there was only one man to beat and he released Jeremy Thrush expertly.
Another 10 minutes of Auckland domination followed before the ball was coughed up by the home side on halfway. Wellington shifted it quickly to Hosea Gear who borrowed his big brother's classic in-out move and dropped the pace, veering in-field to fox Peter Saili and then accelerated on the outward curve leaving the No 8 grasping at nothing.
It was a move that would have piqued the interest of the All Black selectors. It's not like the old days when the national coaches could shut their eyes and stick a pin in the list of provincial wingers and be guaranteed to come out lucky.
Gear is taking giant steps towards the national side and the slick way he combined with Cory Jane at fullback will also have been noted.
Jane was a move ahead all night, playing the bright light to the high ball's moth. Auckland's Isaia Toeava mixed up his kicking game but he never really managed to find Jane out of position.
That was a big part of Auckland's problem - they couldn't get mileage out of their kicking game which left them running from too deep in their own territory for much of the second half.
There is no way the Auckland players will see any upside in the loss of the Shield but coach Shane Howarth might just be quietly relieved that the decks are now clear to focus exclusively on retaining the title.
Auckland 0 Wellington 27 (J. Thrush, H. Gear, D. Coles. R. Filipo. T. Waldrom tries; P. Weepu con)
