Lions and Pride Both Miss Out Late in Hamilton

The Wellington Pride and Lions trip to Waikato has ended with two narrow losses in very competitive, high-energy games.   

The Pride were up first and suffered a narrow 34-27 loss to the Waikato Women. 

After trading early penalties, Waikato crossed the line first before Ayesha Leti-I’iga levelled the scores at the midway point of the first half, before another penalty from Amanda Rasch had the Pride 13-10 up, half an hour in. A lute flurry of attack then saw Waikato score minutes before the break, heading into the sheds with a 17-13 advantage.  

Both teams’ defence tightened up in the second half, with Waikato adding an early penalty before Dhys Faleafaga dotted down to level the scores at 20-all with just over 10 minutes left, setting up a grandstand finish. Moments after Waikato found themselves back in front after Georgia Daals was narrowly beaten in placing the ball in her own in-goal, handing Waikato a 27-20 advantage. Minutes later they went close again, but the staunch Pride defence held their line and forced an error.  

A sustained period of attack led to Leti-I’iga scoring in the 79th minute, giving impact player Elizabeth Goulden the chance to even up the score. The conversion was successful and with 81 minutes on the clock, the match looked likely to go into golden point. Waikato managed to regain possession from the kick-off and eventually scored the match winner in the 82nd minute. A tough break for the Pride after being on the other end of a nail biter last weekend.  

The Lions then took to the field looking to continue last weekend’s form, and the first half had all signs pointing to another victory. The men lead 34-8 at half time after a blistering first half, seeing five tries run in. Pepesana Patafilo scored a double early, before captain Du’Plessis Kirifi scored and Julian Savea scored a classy try set up by a Ruben Love break. Peter Umaga-Jensen capped off a first half with an intercept try. 

Waikato came quick out of the gate in the second half, scoring two tries in the first 15 minutes before a Brandyn Laursen penalty pushed the lead back out to 37-22 for the Lions with 20 minutes remaining. Two tries in three minutes then had the hosts right back in the game, trailing by a single point with 11 minutes remaining. A 73rd minute try then proved to be the match winner, Waikato sealing a come from behind victory.  

Next week, the Pride are back at home, hosting the Auckland Storm at Porirua Park on Saturday at 2:05pm, while the Lions make the trip to Palmerston North taking on the Manawatu Turbos on Sunday at 4:35pm.  

Photo credit:
MICHAEL BRADLEY/GETTY IMAGES