1. John Schwalger
2. Dane Coles
3. Neemia Tialata (c)
4. Jeremy Thrush
5. Daniel Ramsay
6. Mark Reddish
7. Scott Fuglistaller
8. Faifili Levave
9. Ruki Tipuna
10. Fa'atonu Fili
11. Hosea Gear
12. Shaun Treeby
13. Alapati Leuia
14. Julian Savea
15. Apoua Stewart

Reserves:

16. Ged Robinson
17. Reg Goodes
18. Api Naikatini
19. TJ Ioane
20. Jared Kahu
21. Hayden Cripps
22. Charlie Ngatai

 

Tighthead prop Neemia Tialata will captain the Vodafone Wellington Lions in their ITM season opener on Sunday against the Tasman Makos, in a playing 22 that features five players in line to make their National Provincial Championship/ITM Cup debuts should they take the field.

IRB World U20 Player of the Year Julian Savea makes his ITM Cup debut on the right wing in a squad that features eight current or former Hurricanes players and four players who recently played for the New Zealand Maori in their successful Sealord Centenary series, including left wing Hosea Gear.

Injuries to props Adrian Barone and David Te Moana, loose forwards Rodney So'oialo and Serge Lilo and inside backs Alby Mathewson and Michael Hobbs, see prop Reg Goodes, loose forward TJ Ioane and halfback Jared Kahu join original squad member and first five-eighth Hayden Cripps in the team on the substitutes bench.

The Vodafone Wellington Lions begin their campaign on Sunday to reach their fifth consecutive NPC/ITM Cup final and their ninth in 12 seasons since reaching their first against Auckland in 1999.

The Lions will also be playing to win their ninth straight NPC/ITM Cup season opener and their fourth in succession at Westpac Stadium, last losing in the first round to Bay of Plenty in 2001 (11-14). Since then the Lions have defeated Canterbury (twice), Otago (twice), Southland, Northland, Taranaki, and Hawke's Bay in each of their last eight first round encounters. Last year's 23-19 win over Otago in round one also doubled as a Ranfurly Shield defence.

The Lions will be playing for their fifth consecutive win against Tasman, since first meeting New Zealand's newest side for the first time in 2006. Their winning scores against Tasman in each of the past four years have been 39-25 (2006), 38-25 (2007), 26-20 (2008) and 22-14 (2009). The first three clashes were in Wellington, including a Ranfurly Shield defence in 2008 a week after winning it off Auckland, and last year's match was in Blenheim.

The 2008 encounter was the Lions' first Ranfurly Shield defence in 26 years and the win was achieved late in the match against a tenacious Tasman, with lock Jeremy Thrush and former No. 8 Thomas Waldrom scoring two tries to secure victory. Last year, halfback Piri Weepu, in his 50th match for the Lions, kicked three second half penalties to add to an earlier try to lock Daniel Ramsay to help clinch the win over the Makos.

The Lions start their 11th season at Westpac Stadium hoping to build on their impressive home ground record. Since the first NPC/ITM Cup match played there in 2000 against Canterbury (won 27-20 to the Lions) to the most recent in last year's semi-final against Southland (won 34-21), the Lions have played 57, won 42 and lost 15.
In the past four years the Lions have won 24 of 26 games at Westpac Stadium, including two unbeaten seasons there in 2006 and 2007. Their two defeats there have both been to Canterbury (14-36 in last year's round-robin and 6-7 in the 2008 final).

In all NPC/ITM Cup games at Westpac Stadium to date the Lions have scored 1881 points and conceded 1144 - an average winning score of 33-20.

Their highest score there is 73 (73-28) against Taranaki in 2004 and their lowest score there is 6 (6-7 against Canterbury in 2008.