Pride Complete Late Comeback, Lions Roar in Season Opener

Both the Wellington Pride and Lions posted wins in Saturday’s double header at Sky Stadium, with final scores at opposite ends of the spectrum.  

First up, the Pride took to the field against Counties Manukau. After spending the majority of the first half trapped inside their own 22, and despite two yellow cards within two minutes of each other, the Pride went into the sheds 14-10 behind but still in the contest.   

During the second half, Counties scored early to extend their lead to 19-10 before Wellington were restored to 15. Pride’s Amanda Rasch traded penalty goals with Counties first-five Hazel Tubic and took the visitors out to a 22-16 lead before Ayesha Leti-I’iga powered through two defenders to score from a well worked set-piece play.  

Entering the last ten minutes of play, Hazel Tubic added another three points for Counties to push the lead out to 25-21. As the hooter sounded, Counties looked poised for victory, until Joanah Ngan-Woo snatched the ball, setting up a final attack in Counties’ 22 and finishing with a try from Harmony Ioane to snatch a 26-25 victory for the Pride. 

Following the Pride, the Lions then took victory in their first game of the 2021 season against the Northland Taniwha.  

It was the Taine Plumtree show early on as the blindside flanker scored twice in the first five minutes, taking the Lions to a 14-0 lead. The Taniwha found their rhythm and opened their account in the 26th minute before two more late tries to Peter Umaga-Jensen and Alex Fidow had the Lions sitting at the break with a 28-7 advantage.  

Taine Plumtree scored in the 48th minute to complete his hat-trick, before tries from Julian Savea, Bruce Kauika-Petersen and debutant Brandyn Laursen had Wellington storming to a 54-7 victory, scoring 8 tries in the demolition.  

Next Sunday, the Pride and Lions head to Hamilton to take on Waikato in a double header at FMG Stadium. The Pride kick-off at 12:05pm before the Lions look for back-to-back wins to kick off their season at 2:05pm. .