Weepu kicks Wellington to victory

9.30pm

Referee Steve Walsh whipped Waikato for indiscretions and Piri Weepu belted them with six penalties for Wellington's decisive points in tonight's national first division rugby match at the Westpac Stadium.

Halfback Weepu kicked 20 points in their 37-17 win over John Mitchell's Waikato, who had given Auckland a record thumping last weekend.

Both teams scored three tries each but after Waikato scored their 17 points in the first 35 minutes, they wilted under pressure, committing error after error.

In the second half Wellington scored 24 unanswered points.

Waikato came up offside as the Wellington backs and forwards ran hard and offloaded in tackles.

Under pressure Waikato resorted to high tackles on a few occasions, prompting Walsh to warn them twice, and popped up on the wrong side of the rucks and mauls for a lopsided penalty count against them.

Midfield backs Conrad Smith and Ma'a Nonu often broke the first line of defence and Wellington fed off them to maintain the pressure on Waikato.

Weepu kicked his first penalty to close the gap to 10-12, his second saw Wellington keep in touch at 10-17 at halftime before he landed another four in a row to take his team out to a 25-17 lead. Then Jerry Collins and Nonu scored a try each, adding to the try Smith had scored in the first half.

Waikato's points came from a try each by halfback Byron Kelleher and loose forwards Steven Bates and Scott Couch, who was later stretchered off the field with a leg injury. First five-eighth David Hill converted one try.

Wellington 37 (Conrad Smith, Jerry Collins, Ma'a Nonu tries; Piri Weepu 6 pen, con, Shannon Paku con)

Waikato 17 (Byron Kelleher, Steven Bates, Scott Couch tries; David Hill con)

Halftime: 13-17

Wellington: 15. Shannon Paku, 14. Lome Fa'atau, 13. Conrad Smith, 12. Ma'a Nonu, 11. Sireli Bobo, 10. Riki Flutey, 9. Piri Weepu, 8. Rodney So'oialo, 7. Ben Herring, 6. Jerry Collins, 5. Luke Andrews, 4. Ross Kennedy, 3. Neemia Tialata, 2. Mahonri Schwalger, 1. Joe McDonnell.

Waikato: 15. Todd Miller, 14. Sosene Anesi, 13. Richard Kahui, 12. Keith Lowen, 11. Sitiveni Sivivatu, 10. David Hill, 9. Byron Kelleher, 8. Steven Bates, 7. Scott Couch, 6. Liam Messam, 5. Sean Hohneck, 4. Toby Lynn, 3. Nathan White, 2. Scott Linklater, 1.David Briggs.

Referee: Steve Walsh

- NZPA