It's RANFURLY SHIELD time

Wellington Lions too strong for spirited Wanganui

Eight tries in successful Shield defence

By TOBY ROBSON in Wanganui - The Dominion Post | 5:00PM - Thursday, 09 July 2009

POINT MAN: Wellington first five eighths Daniel Kirkpatrick
goes over for a try. — MAARTEN HOLL/The Dominion Post.

Wellington overcame a bout of poor handling and a brave Wanganui challenge to comfortably secure the Ranfurly Shield with a 61-6 win at Cooks Gardens today.

The Lions scored eight tries in extending their Shield tenure to three matches, but it was far from a vintage performance in front of about 4500 fans.

Wanganui's Shield drought stretched to 26 matches, but the 2009 side did the province proud with a spirited challenge and for large parts of the match the second division champions more than held their own.

Wellington led 23-3 at halftime - with first-five Dan Kirkpatrick scoring all of his 18 points before the break - before inflating the margin with three tries in the final five minutes of the match.

However, it took the holders 20 minutes to cross Wanganui's line and their performance was marked by too many basic handling errors.

In the end though there was only going to be one winner and the Wellington defence was simply too strong for Wanganui to breach.

Lions wing Alipate Leiua was the most impressive back on the field, scoring two tries to continue his prolific nose for the line this season.

Kirkpatrick looked assured, while Scott Fuglistaller was a presence around the field all day.

Kirkpatrick, David Smith, Charlie Ngatai, Shaun Treeby, Frae Wilson and Brendan Watt were the other try scorers.

Wanganui's best period came in the 15 minutes after the break and they were unlucky not to score before Wellington's superior fitness and size began to tell.

Wing Sam Scown shone on the right wing for the home side and there were useful efforts from big centre Fa'apulou Soolefai and lock Mike Fitzgerald.

The spirited local side took the game to the holders from the kickoff spinning it wide and keeping Wellington try less for the opening 20 minutes.

However, Kirkpatrick kept the scoreboard ticking over with three penalties before providing a perfectly weighted cross kick for wing Leiua to score the first try of the match.

Kirkpatrick crossed himself five minutes later after a midfield break by hooker Ged Robinson for a 23-0 lead.

Wanganui halfback Denning Tyrell kicked a deserved penalty near halftime and another after the break, but Wellington's defence ensured a number of promising moves came to nothing.

In the second half Wellington's passes began to stick. Ngatai laid on a try for Smith then scored himself as the score began to mount mid way through the second half.

Treeby scored after a Leiua break with 12 minutes to go before Leuia, replacement halfback Wilson and wing Watt inflated the scoreline before fulltime.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/sport/local-sport/2580003/Wellington-Lions-too-strong-for-spirited-Wanganui