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All Blacks XV prop braces for Munster after 89-minute NPC Final shift

Xavier Numia of Wellington during the Bunnings Warehouse NPC Final match between Wellington and Bay of Plenty at Sky Stadium, on October 26, 2024, in Wellington, New Zealand. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

Wellington’s 23-20 extra-time victory against Bay of Plenty in the NPC final at Sky Stadium last Saturday could be seen as an exercise in catharsis for long-suffering Lions supporters. 

Ten defeats in the decider since 1999 is an abysmal return for a side never lacking in flair, but until recently absent of killer instinct.

Still, it took Wellington 100 minutes to foil Bay of Plenty and, at last, win an NPC final in the capital. Wellington had gone down at home in the 2003, 2004, 2008 and 2013 finals.

“Eighty-nine minutes. That’s a pretty tough ask for a prop. I love my province. I love the boys. I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Xavier Nuima told RugbyPass.

“After being kitted out in Auckland, I spent the whole flight recovering. I’m sweet now. Looking forward to my second shift with the All Blacks XV.”

Nuima will start off the bench for the All Blacks XV against Munster at Thomond Park, Limerick on Sunday. Nuima played in a 38-6 win by the All Blacks XV against a Japan XV at the Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium in 2023.

“It’s special to put on a black jersey again. I don’t know too much about Munster. I know they’ll bring it in the forwards. I’ll do my role and the result will look after itself.”

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Numia has played 72 (50 wins) of the last 79 possible games for Wellington since his debut in 2018. He’s arguably the most durable and dynamic loosehead prop in the country with 61 appearances (38 wins) for the Hurricanes under his belt too.

Nuima made a staggering 18 tackles and 14 carries in the NPC final and helped the Lions set piece become sturdier throughout. Wellington trailed 20-15 facing a fierce second-half wind.

“Simple rugby was our aim. Carry hard, clean hard, leave it to the backs when we could” Nuima said.

“In finals footy, you win some and you lose some. You have to trust the process, establish a good connection with the locks and loose forwards.”

The Lions have won their last seven matches in a row at home against Bay of Plenty which equals their record of consecutive victories first established between 1979 and 1991. The Lions won all eight of their home matches in 2024, their best-ever season. The Lions 11 wins this year equal their record for most wins in a season.

Nuima shares a special bond with All Blacks XV captain Du’Plessis Kirifi who has led the Wellington Lions to 40 victories in 52 games. Kirifi’s approach to leadership could be described as evangelical with overt passion often antagonising opponents.

“That’s the best part,” Nuima laughed. “The boys look up to Dupes. He leads by his actions and we feed off his energy.”

Peter Lakai, Ruben Love, Riley Higgins and Caleb Delany are the other Wellington Lions NPC winners in the All Blacks XV.

The All Blacks XV against Munster at Thomond Park, Limerick kicks off on Sunday at 6:30pm (NZT).

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Comments

4 Comments
B
BH 20 days ago

It's spelt "Numia" lol

B
BM 20 days ago

Would Adam Julian please do his homework properly and get soon to be ALL BLACK Xavier Numia 's name spelt correctly in his article all through. If he hadn't suffered injury early this season he would have been named in ALL BLACKS first squad of 2024.

J
Jacinda 21 days ago

Will this be on Stan in Australia?

B
BM 20 days ago

Sorry Jacinda I don't know ....ask Stan Sport yourself but failing that I know that allblacks.com are streaming Munster game tomorrow morning at 6.30 am tomorrow morning. I get it on my Sky Box in NZ. Good Luck Jacinda! Stan Sport should be able to stream it from here or allblacks.com 😍

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Hellhound 17 minutes ago
France put World Cup pain behind them with unbeaten run in November

France is starting to look like they are finally over their WC headache, although they were lucky that NZ had a very bad game. The Argies as usual is one game good, the next bad. If they can sort that out and be more consistent, they could become contenders for the WC.


NZ, Argentina (if they are more consistent), and now the Wallabies too is in an upward curve (can they be consistent?), as well as Fiji(as inconsistent as Argentina) looks like possible contenders. The Boks will be as usual a huge threat to defend their title. Things are looking up for the South, so the North should rightfully beware of the Southern Hemisphere threat.


With the French looking dangerous, the English with their close runs (mostly a mindset problem) and the Scottish seems to be the NH main contenders. The Irish is good, but not excellent anymore. They are more overbearing and with their glory days mostly gone with old players hanging on by a thread, by 2027 if they don't start adding in the younger players, they won't make it past yet another WC Quarter final. The problem is that their youngsters, while good is nothing special.


That is just 8 teams without the Irish that can become real WC contenders. Lots of hickups to be sorted still for these teams, excluding the Boks to become a threat. Make no mistake, the top Tier is much closer than people realise and the 2027 WC will be a really great WC, possibly the best contended WC ever.

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