Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

North Island prop returns for Wellington for Canterbury grudge match

Karl Tu'inukuafe and Alex Fidow. (Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)

The Wellington Lions will be hoping to secure a third consecutive win this weekend, taking on Canterbury at Orangetheory Stadium.

ADVERTISEMENT

Following their 32 – 10 victory over Bay of Plenty, Lions head coach, Leo Crowley, has made just three changes to the starting XV.

Among those changes, Julian Savea makes his return from injury whilst Alex Fidow comes back from a concussion sustained playing Auckland.

Video Spacer

The panel from Sky Sports NZ’s The Breakdown talk all things rugby down under as the New Zealand provincial competition continues and we draw one week closer to the Bledisloe Cup test matches.

Video Player is loading.
Current Time 0:00
Duration 0:00
Loaded: 0%
Stream Type LIVE
Remaining Time 0:00
 
1x
    • Chapters
    • descriptions off, selected
    • captions off, selected
      Video Spacer

      The panel from Sky Sports NZ’s The Breakdown talk all things rugby down under as the New Zealand provincial competition continues and we draw one week closer to the Bledisloe Cup test matches.

      James O’Reilly also gets a run for the first time this Mitre 10 Cup campaign and Crowley’s looking forward to seeing the hooker back in action.

      “He’s been working hard behind the scenes to get ready for this opportunity. All considered, we probably couldn’t have named a more experienced team.”

      https://www.instagram.com/p/CFxhWXwhJ4h/

      The Premiership match will be the first time Wellington has faced Canterbury since the 2019 semi-final at Sky Stadium.

      Coming off a loss to Hawke’s Bay on Saturday, Crowley says the Mainlanders will be looking to get their season back on track.

      ADVERTISEMENT

      “We realise what is ahead for us in Canterbury. They are always tough to play, but our concentration is on our own environment and players as we try to improve across all areas of our game.”

      He says the whole squad had a performance review of their efforts against Bay of Plenty.

      “We felt a bit patchy in our performance and that can happen in a shorter week. There was plenty of good play mixed in with the average stuff.

      Kick-off for this Saturday is 7:05pm.

      Wellington: Billy Proctor, Wes Goosen, Peter Umaga-Jensen, Vince Aso, Julian Savea, Jackson Garden-Bachop, Kemara Hauiti-Parapara, Teariki Ben-Nicholas, Du’Plessis Kirifi (c), Vaea Fifita, Naitoa Ah Kuoi, James Blackwell, Alex Fidow, James O’Reilly, Xavier Numia. Reserves: Tyrone Thompson, Ben Aumua-Peseta, Josiah Tavita-Metcalfe, Caleb Delany, Mateaki Kafatolu, Connor Collins, Trent Renata, Pepesana Patafilo.

      – Wellington Rugby

      ADVERTISEMENT
      ADVERTISEMENT

      Boks Office | Episode 37 | Six Nations Round 4 Review

      Cape Town | Leg 2 | Day 2 | HSBC Challenger Series 2025 | Full Day Replay

      Gloucester-Hartpury vs Bristol Bears | PWR 2024/25 | Full Match Replay

      Boks Office | Episode 36 | Six Nations Round 3 Review

      Why did Scotland's Finn Russell take the crucial kick from the wrong place? | Whistle Watch

      England A vs Ireland A | Full Match Replay

      Kubota Spears vs Shizuoka BlueRevs | JRLO 2024/2025 | Full Match Replay

      Watch now: Lomu - The Lost Tapes

      Trending on RugbyPass

      Comments

      0 Comments
      Be the first to comment...

      Join free and tell us what you really think!

      Sign up for free
      ADVERTISEMENT

      Latest Features

      Comments on RugbyPass

      TRENDING
      TRENDING Stat chat: Clear favourite emerges as Sam Cane's All Blacks successor Stat chat: Sam Cane's successor emerges
      Search