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Forgotten All Black to make comeback in new position in Mitre 10

Ngani Laumape and Vaea Fifita

Athletic loose forward Vaea Fifita will make his first appearance for the Wellington Lions on Sunday when they meet defending Mitre 10 Cup champions Auckland at Eden Park.

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Fifita suffered a minor knee injury after he was released from the All Blacks but has recovered fully and will start at No 8.

He is one of only two changes to the starting side which helped the Lions to a 54-24 win over Otago last round with the other being at first five-eighth where Jackson Garden-Bachop returns after being on the bench last Sunday.

Wellington Lions head coach Chris Gibbes has made four changes to the bench which features a potential debutant in Northern United halfback Campbell Woodmass who has replaced Connor Collins after he was ruled out with injury.

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Gibbes was more than happy with the first 60 minutes against Otago and the improvements they had made in some areas.

“That’s one of the reasons why we have made minimal changes,” he said.

“We are starting to work really well together and we are building some real depth in our squad. It’s great to welcome Vaea back into the mix and he has the potential to be really influential.

“It’s tough on Teariki Ben-Nicholas who has been in really good form but we know he will provide us with some real energy off the bench, along with a number of other players, against a quality Auckland side.”

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Kick-off is 2.05pm.

The Wellington Lions squad to meet Auckland is:

15 Billy Proctor (Marist St Pats)
14 Wes Goosen (Old Boys University)
13 Vince Aso (Paremata-Plimmerton)
12 Peter Umaga-Jensen (Wainuiomata)
11 Ben Lam (Tawa)
10 Jackson Garden-Bachop (Northern United)
9 Kemara Hauiti-Parapara (Tawa)
8 Vaea Fifita (Wellington)
7 Du’Plessis Kirifi (Northern United) (c)
6 Mateaki Kafatolu (Petone)
5 James Blackwell (Petone)
4 Josh Furno (Western Suburbs)
3 Alex Fidow (Oriental-Rongotai)
2 Asafo Aumua (Avalon)
1 Xavier Numia (Oriental-Rongotai)

Reserves

16 James O’Reilly (Hutt Old Boys Marist)
17 Sitiveni Paongo (Tawa)
18 Kaliopasi Uluilakepa (Petone)
19 Naitoa Ah Kuoi (Marist St Pats)
20 Teariki Ben-Nicholas (Old Boys University)
21 Campbell Woodmass (Northern United)
22 Trent Renata (Oriental-Rongotai)
23 Pepesana Patafilo (Tawa)

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AM 39 minutes ago
'Freelancer' Izaia Perese shows the need for true inclusivity in Australian rugby

That's Cron's job though. Australia has had one of the most penalised scrums in international rugby for a long time. Just look at the scrum win loss percentage and scrum penalties. That is your evidence. AA has been the starter during that period. Pretty simple analysis. That Australia has had a poor scrum for a long time is hardly news. If bell and thor are not on the field they are woeful. So you are just plain wrong. They have very little time for the lions so doing the same old things that dont work is not going to get them there.


Ainsley is better than our next best tighthead options and has been playing well at scrum time for Lyon in the most competitive comp in the world. Superstar player? No. But better than the next best options. So that is a good enough guide. The scrummaging in the Prem is pretty good too so there is Sio's proof. Same analysis for him. Certainly better in both cases than Super, where the brumbies had the worst win loss and scrum pen in Super. Who plays there? Ohh yes... And the level of scrummaging in Super is well below the URC, prem and France with the SA teams out.


Nongorr is truly woeful. He's 130kg and gets shoved about. That just should not be happening at that weight for a specialist prop who has always played rugby cf pone with leauge. He has had enough time to develop at 23. You'd be better off with Pone who is at least good around the field for the moment and sending Nongorr on exchange to France or England to see if they can improve him with better coaching as happened with Skelton and Meafou. He isn't going to develop in time in super if he has it at all.


Latu is a better scrummaging hooker than BPA and Nasser. and he's the best aussie player over the ball at ruck time. McReight's super jackling percentage hasnt converted to international level but latu consistently does it at heniken level, which is similar to test level in the big games. With good coaching at La Rochelle he's much improved though still has the odd shocker. He should start the November games.

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