That's how to please, me: Foster

By CHRIS RATTUE

WAIKATO 49 WELLINGTON 35

Ian Foster claimed the result was more important than the performance as Waikato continued their remarkable start to the NPC with a victory over Wellington.

A rearranged Waikato line-up followed their stunning effort against Canterbury with a win in a high-paced shootout with their flamboyant but flaky opponents in Wellington.

The Waikato coach's main post-match concern was the tackled-ball rulings of Aucklander Glenn Wahlstrom - refereeing his last game - which Foster said were inconsistent with other referees' decisions this season.

Waikato head the NPC with five victories from five matches, and five bonus points. Only a great sporting calamity would see them miss the semifinals, and they are on course for home advantage.

This has given Foster, who played a record 148 games for the province, a dream start to his NPC coaching partnership with Farrell Temata, who also assisted Kevin Greene with Waikato's only NPC title-winning side, in 1992.

Foster worried that his side's crushing of defending champions Canterbury might leave them vulnerable against Dave Rennie's Wellington.

"We're ecstatic with our start even though there were a lot of mistakes against Wellington," he said. "I'm thrilled with this result.

"We haven't won down there for 10 years and to come off that win against Canterbury and win a game where we were asked the question three or four times is fantastic.

"It was hard to back up after Canterbury. We deliberately went in with some changes to give the team a good level of enthusiasm. And it's not Waikato's way to lead from the front. We've always been the underdogs.

"It was so important for us to win this one."

Another tick came with the return of All Black first five-eighths David Hill, who replaced Derek Maisey and survived 35 minutes without damaging his lingering groin injury.

Maisey struggled with clearing kicks but Foster said Hill was sent on to add structure to a game that was favouring Wellington's loose approach.

Hill responded with a try seven minutes after coming on, when he faked an inside pass and ripped through a generous hole in the Wellington back defence, giving his side a 32-30 lead.

While he missed a tackle on Rodney So'oialo as the Wellington No 8 set up a try to Jason Spice, it was a promising comeback from Hill, who remains Waikato's top pivot despite Maisey's impressive efforts so far.

On the down side, fullback Loki Crichton suffered an injury to his troublesome shoulder and is doubtful for Saturday afternoon's match against Otago in Dunedin.

Prop David Briggs could be missing again because of a foot injury, but captain Deon Muir - forced off with heavy thigh bruising - is a good chance to be fit.

Waikato had targeted Otago for Mark Ranby's return but there is doubt over that, and their midfield of Hautapu's Keith Lowen and Regan King continues to perform superbly.

Both scored two tries against Wellington. The powerful Lowen is showing the line-breaking ability that got him into one of Wayne Smith's All Black training squads, and the slightly built King continues to confuse defenders with a combination of jinking moves and gliding runs.

On Wahlstrom's refereeing, Foster said: "Both Dave Rennie and I felt that at the breakdown, the defending team was given a lot more leeway.

"All five of Wellington's tries came from turnovers. It was a different interpretation.

"The refs have been pretty consistent this year and all you really ask for is that if the attacking team have got the numbers, they should have a reasonably good chance of retaining the ball."

Rennie said Wahlstrom's refereeing contributed to a festival-type game.

"He was fairly lax at the breakdown and it led to a lot of turnovers, but we're not complaining about the refereeing.

"Our individual tackling techniques let us down.

"We converged towards the rucks and Waikato spread it.

"We scored some pretty good tries but our defence let us down."