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Watch: Lions fullback Ruben Love hits magic line for try against Otago

(Source/Sky Sport NZ)

Young Wellington Lions fullback Ruben Love was on fire in the first half against Otago in the latest round of the NPC, breaking open the defence with succinct line running at Sky Stadium.

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Love burst into the game in the 11th minute from a lineout strike play, he took a short ball from centre Billy Proctor and exploded through the Otago defence from just outside the 22.

With only halfback James Arscott to beat, Love went around the outside to score his try comfortably in the left hand corner.

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His precise line running was on show again just minutes later as the Wellington backs pressed Otago’s try line.

Playing with extra depth, the Lions’ fullback hit a beautiful ball from wing Pepesana Patafilo and almost scored his second after weaving through three defenders.

He placed the ball back into the field of play and halfback TJ Perenara dived over from close range to put the Lions up 19-0.

Another try to prop Xavier Numia put the home side up 26-14 at the break which proved too much to overcome for the Southerners.

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Two penalty goals to first five Aidan Morgan continued to build the Lions lead before a late comeback threatened to steal the game.

Wellington held on for a 32-26 win, lifting them to third in the conference with five wins and two losses, just one competition behind leaders Waikato.

Love’s explosive running has been a highlight for the Lions this season, the 21-year-old has taken his game to a new level since debuting for the Hurricanes two years ago in Super Rugby Aotearoa and recently showed his potential for the Maori All Blacks against Ireland.

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Sam 798 days ago

He's talented this guy. He'd be a good pick up for the Highlanders who desperately need a 10, which I think is his better position. Him and Fakatava could form an exciting attacking partnership down there under the roof.

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Tom 52 minutes 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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