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Tasman claim maiden Mitre 10 Cup title with tense victory over Wellington

Jordan Taufua makes a break during the Mitre 10 Cup final between Tasman and Wellington. (Photo by Evan Barnes/Getty Images)

Tasman have won the Mitre 10 Cup title for the first time in their 13-year history, downing Wellington in a tight affair at Trafalgar Park in Nelson.

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The Mako headed into the encounter as favourites after finishing the regular season undefeated, leading them to a semi-final clash against Auckland last week, of which they came away as 18-9 victors.

Wellington, on the other hand, came into the knockout stages as the competition’s second-seeded team, and reached the final after dispatching 14-time champions Canterbury 30-19 in Wellington last Saturday.

Continue reading below…

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As such, the hosts started the match as firm favourites to emerge as champions, and a pair of early penalties to incoming Highlanders playmaker Mitch Hunt did no harm to their chances.

It took his opposite Jackson Garden-Bachop three attempts in the ensuing eight minutes to finally land a successful kick at goal, but a burst through the Lions’ defence by electric wing Will Jordan killed any momentum just moments later.

Hunt and Garden-Bachop went on to exchange further eight points from the boot between them, but a 23rd minute try to David Havili following an error from the re-start by Vince Aso extended Tasman’s lead by 23-6.

A Garden-Bachop penalty four minutes later was followed by an Alex Fidow try on the half-hour mark, which came after some good continuity from the Wellington forward pack deep inside Mako territory.

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That left the half-time score at 23-14 in favour of the hosts, but a penalty to Hunt 10 minutes pushed the buffer out by a further three points.

What followed was a tense period of play which lasted for more than 25 minutes, as both sides struggled for break each other’s defence with both side’s title hopes on the line.

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Two missed shots at goal by Hunt and long-range specialist Havili added to the drama, and with time ticking away, the desperation shown by Wellington to salvage a try and close the gap on the scoreboard became more and more evident.

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However, a runaway try scored by Jordan on the back of a handling error by Wellington captain Du’Plessis Kirifi with two minutes to play killed off any hope of a late Lions comeback, and in doing so, the Mako etched their name into New Zealand provincial rugby history for the first time.

The win provided a raft of departing stars with the perfect sendoff, with the likes of Wyatt Crockett, Liam Squire and Jordan Taufua playing in their final matches for the province.

Tasman 31 (Tries to Will Jordan (2), David Havili; 2 conversions, 4 penalties to Mitch Hunt)

Wellington 14 (Try to Alex Fidow; 3 penalties to Jackson Garden-Bachop)

Rugby World Cup sandwich survey with All Blacks legend Justin Marshall:

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Tom 1 hour ago
England player ratings vs South Africa | 2024 Autumn Nations Series

I'm not sure about the Earl incident. I recall him missing an important tackle but he's certainly a quick flanker. SB has him cover centre when doing 6-2, fortunately we've never had to see how that would play out.


I'm not getting on board I'm afraid. The fact that England are scoring tries and being competitive despite being so amazingly disorganised and managing to lose every match is even more frustrating. The players front up and make a good account of themselves physically but the defence since Felix Jones is so much less organised. Players are flying out the line all over the place, there is no cohesion at all... And the attack... Literally it's just Marcus Smith.. and a bit of Feyi Waboso. Almost every player in the backline has done nothing offensively because the structure just isn't there for it, there's nothing creative or innovative to challenge the defense. The last 20 mins against the Boks it was just runners on crash ball off the 9, over and over getting smashed behind the gainline and turned over. These players are capable of doing much better.


We did score tries under Eddie but the backs didn't create anything. It worked well for a while but when we no longer had a big pack with the likes of Haskell and the Vunipolas playing well, it stopped working very rapidly. Once we started losing the gainline and couldn't exert so much pressure through bullying, they suddenly all looked clueless and we finished 5th in consecutive six nations.


I'd love to be on board, I've watched every game for the last 15 years and what I see is just super frustrating. It's groundhog day. The same mistakes over and over and no sign of progress. They've pushed some good sides close in this series but there is no acknowledgement of the issues, they keep saying how close they are and they're a growing team etc... he's been in charge for 2 years and has hundreds of caps in the side. This will end poorly, he's not the right guy, but thank you for trying.

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