Wellington 37 Manawatu 7
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Unfavourable conditions and a feisty Manawatu side conspired to prevent Wellington from playing festival rugby to farewell their favourite son, Tana Umaga.
Under a grey, leaden sky and in the face of a gusting, strong wind, Wellington had to keep the ball close in and use their forwards to subdue Manawatu 37-7 in a third round Air NZ Cup match here today.
Umaga, in his 100th and final match for Wellington, was last to come out for the start of the match.
His arrival onto the field was the signal for rapturous cheering from his home crowd, numbering about 20,000.
Although the destructive burst of speed was missing, there were vintage Umaga touches aplenty - from the flawless tackling and the nifty offloads to turning the ball over - for the crowd to savour for a last time.
Manawatu had a chance to take the lead seconds from the kickoff but Matty James' 30m penalty attempt into the the stiff wind hit the posts and bounced out of play.
Playing into the wind, Manawatu moved the ball wide at pace and hit the line hard to pin Wellington in defence.
There was sterling work from the Manawatu pack to control the ball and locks James Goode and Hayden Triggs as well as blindside flanker Nick Crosswell were prominent.
Wellington, who were shocked 6-8 by Hawke's Bay last week, gradually worked their way back into the match, gaining parity in the forwards exchanges and using their backs at every opportunity with halfback Piri Weepu directing play well.
It was Weepu who seized the moment to crack the Manawatu defence in the eighth minute.
After No 8 Thomas Waldrom made the initial burst, Weepu kicked a low ball at the Manawatu tryline and wing Shannon Paku won the chase to score wide on the left.
First five-eighth Jimmy Gopperth kicked the conversion.
Wellington looked far from the polished side that demolished Otago 68-7 three weeks ago and the home side, unable to crack the Manawatu line again, had to be content with two more penalties from Gopperth in the first half.
But with a stronger effort from the forward pack, in which locks Bernie Upton and Jeremy Thrush were outstanding, Wellington took rolled their opposition over to score four more tries in the second half through Gopperth, skipper Tamati Ellison, fullback Cory Jane and substitute centre Ma'a Nonu.
Manawatu's try came when Matty James broke the line and offloaded to centre Johnny Leota to complete the touchdown.
Wellington have now won two from three while Manawatu remain winless after three rounds.
Wellington 37 (Shannon Paku, Jimmy Gopperth, Tamati Ellison, Cory Jane, Ma'a Nonu tries; Gopperth 2 pen, 3 con) Manawatu 7 (Johnny Leota try; Matty James con). Halftime: 13-0.
- NZPA
