Wellington against international teams: versus British and Irish Lions 2005

Match Details

Result: British and Irish Lions 23 – Wellington Lions 6
When: 15 June 2005
Where: Westpac Stadium, Wellington
Weather: Showery and slippery underfoot
Crowd: 39,500

The Tour

The 12th tour by a team representing combined sides of the British Isles and Ireland and the first of the professional era was one of the most eagerly anticipated by a Lions touring team to New Zealand.

In fact, by the time of the first Test in Christchurch on 25 June, the country was at fever pitch, on a par with previous great tours by the Lions and Springboks.

This was also the last of the big international tours to New Zealand shores. The tour took in seven matches against then NPC Division One and Two teams, one match against the Maori All Blacks and three Tests against the All Blacks.

The 11-match tour took lasted for five weeks in June and early July. The Lions would go on to win all their provincial matches, beating Bay of Plenty 34-20, Taranaki 36-14, Wellington 23-6, Otago 30-19, Southland 26-16, Manawatu 109-6 and Auckland 17-13.

However, the three Test series and the match against the Maori All Blacks, dubbed the unofficial fourth Test, went the hosts’ way. A fired up Maori side beat them 19-13 in Hamilton, while the All Blacks prevailed 21-3 in Christchurch, 48-18 in Wellington and 38-19 in Auckland.

Key players in the Lions’ touring party included captain and centre Brian O’Driscoll (Ireland), flyhalf Jonny Wilkinson (England), wing three-quarter Gareth Thomas (Wales), lock Paul O’Connell (Ireland),No.8 Martin Corry (England) and veteran breakaway flank forward Neil Back (England), amongst others.

The Test series was to prove one-sided. Barely two minutes into the opener at Christchurch, the Lions lost their captain O’Driscoll to a dislocated shoulder after being cleaned out at a ruck by Wellington and All Blacks captain Tana Umaga and hooker Keven Mealamu.

New Zealand wrapped up the series in Wellington with a commanding 30-point win, the Lions conceding the highest number of points (48) in their 114-year history. The Lions scored early through Thomas but the All Blacks came back to lead 21-13 at halftime. All Blacks first five-eighth Dan Carter then produced a master-class, scoring two tries converting three and kicking two penalties.

Wellington players involved in the Test series included Umaga (Petone), Jerry Collins (Northern United), Rodney So’oialo (Western Suburbs), Ma’a Nonu (Oriental-Rongotai) and Conrad Smith (Old Boys University).

The tour started strongly, with fullback Josh Lewsey (England) scoring two tries in the opening five minutes to set up victory against Bay of Plenty. Taranaki led them 7-6 at halftime, but the Lions played well in the second half.

The third tour match against the Maori was a tough affair. The Maori put up a stirring performance and scores were locked up at 6-6 at halftime. But two Luke McAlister penalties and a try to fullback Leon MacDonald gave the Maori a winning 19-6 lead.

The next match was against Wellington, with the visitors hoping to get back on track, just 10 days before the first Test.

The Match

Wellington had a proud history against British touring teams, having recorded famous wins over the Anglo-Welsh in 1908 (19-3), Great Britain in 1930 (12-8) and the British Isles in 1966 (20-6).

Wellington had also put up good fights against the 1950 (6-12), 1959 (6-21), 1977 (6-13) and 1983 (19-27) British Lions sides. The only blip was their heavy defeat at the hands of the 1971 tourists (9-47), but a silver lining in this thrashing was that it served as a catalyst for Wellington teams to start adopting a more enterprising style of play.

Wellington also hadn’t played against the 1993 Lions, so they were eager to pick their rivalry up from where they had left off some two decades earlier.

They had also been rebranded the Wellington Lions several years previously, so this was a true Lions versus Lions encounter.

The visiting Lions paid the ultimate compliment to the Wellington side, naming what was regarded as a virtual Test Strength team for this encounter.

There was a sense of disappointment among some quarters of home supporters when Wellington’s team was named without seven first string players. Umaga, Smith, Collins and So’oialo were on All Blacks duty, whilst lock Ross Kennedy (Old Boys University) and Neemia Tialata (Petone) were injured and Hosea Gear (Hutt Old Boys Marist) was away with the NZ Colts.

However, the home side got a big boost with the availability of rising star Ma’a Nonu (Oriental-Rongotai), who had played well on the left wing for the Hurricanes and would mark O’Driscoll at centre. Wellington was captained by former All Black prop Joe McDonnell while Samoan wing Lome Fa’atau (Marist St Pat’s) had just played a Test against Australia.

Wellington also had future 2009 British and Irish Lions back Riki Flutey (Petone) and 2012 England international Thomas Waldrom (Avalon) in their playing squad.

Wellington’s preparation was limited. A Wellington XV, featuring few of these players, had lost to Manawatu 10-15 a few weeks prior, while this team only really had one training run. New Zealand Maori players Piri Weepu (Hutt Old Boys Marist/Wainuiomata) and Ross Filipo (Petone) held a session to familiarise their teammates with their opposition and to develop some tactics.

Thus far, the Lions’ tactics had largely revolved around slowing the ball down and disrupting the breakdown, so Wellington flanker Ben Herring (Petone) was billed as a key protagonist.

The TAB, expecting a backlash after the tourists’ loss to the Maori, had the visiting Lions at $1.10 favourites and the home Lions $6 to win.

The headline writers also got in on the act, with such headlines as “It’s feeding time at the Cake Tin”, “Two prides on the prowl” and “Lions must show claws in catfight” to fire fans up beforehand.

The match itself was not a vintage one.

The British and Irish Lions had most of the possession and scoring chances, but committed numerous unforced errors when points looked likely. They scored tries to Gethin Jenkins and Gareth Thomas, both converted by Jonny Wilkinson. Wilkinson also kicked three penalties.

Wellington’s points came through the boot of first five-eighth Jimmy Gopperth (Old Boys University).

The general consensus was, while the 23-6 win seemingly put their tour back on track after the loss to the Maori side, it left almost as many questions as answers.

The Dominon Post reported captain O'Driscoll’s comments afterwards: "The ball was like a bar of soap out there and both sides made a lot of unforced errors.” Wellington Lions coach John Plumtree said: "The All Blacks would have put 50 or 60 points on us. With the territory factor and the possession factor, you're not going to get away with that against a really good side.”

"They showed their hand tonight, they drive a lot of lineouts; they kicked more,” added Plumtree. “I think they over-committed to the breakdown, you're not going to get much of a continuity game if you send nine or 10 guys into a ruck.

"I think they're going to have to play a bit more rugby if they're going to beat the All Blacks," he told AllBlacks.com. 

Lions coach Ian McGeechan meanwhile was more impressed with his side's effort, saying he was "very pleased with the control of our game".

"We were just a few passes away from a significant score," he said.

The teams:

Wellington Lions
1. Joe McDonnell
2. Mo Schwalger
3. Tim Fairbrother
4. Ross Filipo
5. Luke Andrews
6. Kristian Ormsby
7. Ben Herring
8. Thomas Waldrom
9. Piri Weepu
10. Jimmy Gopperth
11. Roy Kinikinilau
12. Tane Tu’pulotu
13. Ma’a Nonu
14. Lome Fa’atau
15. Shannon Paku
RESERVES
16. Luke Mahoney
17. John Schwalger
18. Kane Thompson
19. Justin Purdie
20. Riki Flutey
21. Tamati Ellison
22. Cory Jane

British and Irish Lions
1. Gethen Jenkins
2. Shayne Byrne
3. Julian White
4. Danny Grewcock
5. Ben Kay
6. Simon Easterby
7.Neil Back
8.Martin Corry
9. Dwayne Peel
10. Jonny Wilkinson
11. Gareth Thomas
12. Gavin Henson
13. Brian O’Driscoll
14. Jason Robinson
15. Josh Lewsey
RESERVES
16. Gordon Bulloch
17. Matt Stevens
18. Paul O’Connell
19. Lewis Moody
20. Chris Cusiter
21. Stephen Jones
22. Shane Horgan