Fulltime: Wellington 32 Bay of Plenty 10
Wrap:
A stop-start game that the Bay of Plenty dominated for the first 40 minutes, yet found themselves two-points down at the break. All Wellington in the second-half with the game put to bed by a stunning try to hooker Tyrone Thompson.
Wellington 32 (Ben Nicholas x2, Thompson, Love tries, garden-Bachop 2cons) bt
Bay of Plenty 10 (Vella try, Hollinshead 1con, 1pen) HT 12-10
80mins - Try Wellington: Ruben Love - Try on debut for the young man who replaced Julian Savea just before kick-off. Simple backline move and it's Aso who creates a little bit of space for Love who dives over in the corner to score. WEL 32-10
79mins - Scrum 5m for the Lions... last chance for points.
75mins - This is becoming a very ugly game to watch .... mistakes galore and both sides look like they are ready for the final whistle.
70mins - Penalty against the Bay for advancing on the ground while tackled .... they had built some pressure, but now the Lions will clear.
68mins - Red Card Bay of Plenty / Yellow Card Wellington: Okay - this is complicated. Wellington's Morgan Poi has been yellow carded for repeated scrum penalties ..... but the Bay have lost Fa'aisu Fuatai for the rest of the game for foul play ... he carried on when Tiatia let go of Kirifi and caused the Lions skipper to land in a horrible position.
67mins - Referee looking at foul play against Kirifi by Chase Tiatia ...... looks pretty bad. Lifted his legs at the ruck and the Lions skipper landed badly.
66mins - Scrum penalty against the Lions ..... rinse and repeat. Referee with a soft warning to Kirifi.
65mins - Scrum for the Bay 5m out ..... they need to score here.
62mins - Try Wellington: Tyrone Thompson - Sensational from the hooker. Short lineout and Thompson gets the ball back....he sets off and beats three defenders, then dives over in the tackle of Trask to score a wonderful try. WEL 27-10
61mins - Turnover won for the homeside ..... they have a lineout just short of halfway.
60mins - High tackle ruled aganst Kirifi .... lineout on the Lions 22 for the Bay.
57mins - Scrum penalty for the Bay. Clearing kick finds touch on their 10m line.
55mins - Botched attacking lineout by the Lions. Scrum BOP 10m out from their line.
53mins - 22m dropout for Wellington.
51mins - Great clearing kick from Garden-Bachop and BOP will lineout on the 10m line.
50mins - Defensive lineout for the Lions, 5m out from their line.
46mins - Try Wellington: Teariki Ben-Nicholas - Great try Lions. Some highly-skilled passing in contact by both Umaga-Jensen and Aso, who's pop pass fonds Ben-Nicholas 5 out and he strolls over to score. WEL 20-10
45mins - Penalty for the Lions just inside the Bay half. Lineout 5m for Wellington.
43mins - Penalty goal Wellington: No mistake from the Lions No.10. WEL 15-10
42mins - Penalty for Wellington....offside play from the Bay and Garden-Bachop will have a stab at three.
41mins - Lineout for the Lions 5m out to begin the second-spell.
Half-time: Hollinshead misses from a handy spot and the Lions tale a two-point lead into the break.
39mins - The Bay have a chance to re-take te lead. Ruck infringement by the Lions and Hollinshead will have a shot from in front.
37mins - Try Wellington: Wes Goosen - Kick and chase by Aso and he gets the bounce, finds Umaga-Jensen but he's pulled down by 'Triple T' just before the line. Through a couple of phases and Blackwell's shows his skills with a nice pass that puts Goosen in in the corner. WEL 12-10.
35mins - Hollinshead has another shot - 40m out this time but he pushes it to the left of the posts.
32mins - Penalty goal Bay of Plenty: No mistake from Hollinshead and the Bay have the lead again. BOP 10-7.
31mins - Midfield penalty for the Bay just outside the Lions 22 and they will have a shot at three.
28mins - Try Wellington: Teariki Ben-Nicholas - Set up by a great run from Wes Goosen. Centre field...10m out and Ben-Nicholas off the back of the ruck as the defence falls to sleep. 7-7.
26mins - Penalty for Wellington near halfway ..... lineout is the result. They will attack midway halfway and 22.
25mins - Garden-Bacop tidies up a mess for the Lions with a decent touch finder. Lineout BOP midway halfway and 22.
23mins - Wellington scrum holds up well .... out to the backs go the Steamers, but Kirifi wins a penalty for his side at the breakdown.
19mins - Another penalty against Wellington. Ben-Nicholas pinged for a maul infringement. Scrum 5m for the Bay.
18mins - Penalty for the Steamers just outside the Lions 22. They turn down a regulation kick for the lineout option.
15mins - Hooker Tyrone Thompson crosses over for the Lions in the right-hand corner, but the referee wants to check for an obstruction. On review, there is a clear infringement from Tavita-Metcalfe and it's ruled out.
14mins - Tiatia goes to ground and referee Pickerall calls the Steamers for playing the ball on the ground. Wellington line out just outside the Bay 22.
13mins - Lineout for the Bay on the Wellington 10m line after a scrum penalty goes against the Lions.
10mins - Lineout won against the throw .... Parapara puts Umaga-Jensen throw a gap. He's brought down, and the ball is lost forward in contact.
9mins - Clearing penalty for the Steamers. Lineout on the Wellington 10m line.
7mins - Turnover in the midfield ... Chase Tiatia losses the ball in contact. Scrum on halfway for Wellington.
4mins - Maul collapses - legally - and it's a turnover of possesion. Defensive scrum 5m for the Bay.
3mins - Attacking penalty for the Lions. Knock-on from the kick off by the Bay. Pounced on by Wellington and the referee has found a penalty at the ruck. Lineout 5m.
1min - Try Bay of Plenty: Nathan Vella - BOP win the ball back from the kick-off. Short ball from 'Triple T' and Vella runs through a hole to open the scoring. BOP 7-0
Kick-off - Kaleb Trask gets the game underway for the Steamers.
7:01pm - Sparce crowd at Sky Stadium - disapointing no doubt for the union given the shift to Alert Level 1.
6:55pm - Closing in on kick-off time in Wellington. Scheduled to go at 7:05pm.
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Kia ora folks and welcome to Newshub's live coverage of the Mitre 10 Cup clash between Wellington and Canterbury.
Sky Stadium is the venue for tonight's encounter, with the Wellington union hoping for a decent crowd for its first match under Alert Level One, since the penultimate weekend of Super Rugby Aotearoa.
While both sides are without their All Blacks, the Lions can still boast a talent-rich side, led by captain Du'Plessis Kirifi.
In the backline, former All Black Julian Savea is expected to be fit enough to play, joining Wes Goosen, midfield-pairing Vince Aso and Peter Umaga-Jensen and first-five Jackson Garden-Bachop.
The Steamers lose influential flanker Sam Cane, but are relatively unchanged otherwise from the first two weeks.
Both these teams have a win and a loss through the first two weeks, so this evening could prove critical in their long-term outlook for the campaign.
Wellington: 1-Kaliopasi Uluilakepa, 2-Tyrone Thompson, 3-Josiah Tavita-Metcalfe, 4-James Blackwell, 5-Naitoa Ah Kuoi, 6-Vaea Fifita, 7-Du'Plessis Kirifi, 8-Teariki Ben-Nicholas, 9-Kemara Hauiti-Parapara, 10-Jackson Garden-Bachop, 11-Julian Savea/Pepesana Patafilo, 12-Vince Aso, 13-Peter Umaga-Jensen, 14-Wes Goosen, 15-Billy Proctor
Reserves: 16-Bruce Kauika-Petersen, 17-Morgan Poi, 18-Ben Aumua-Peseta, 19-Caleb Delany, 20-Mateaki Kafatolu, 21-Connor Collins, 22-Trent Renata, 23-Patafilo/Ruben Love
Bay of Plenty: 1-Tevita Mafileo, 2-Nathan Vella, 3-Jeff Thwaites, 4-Kane Le'aupepe, 5-Keepa Mewett, 6-Aaron Carroll, 7-Zane Kapeli, 8-Joe Tupe, 9-Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi, 10-Dan Hollinshead, 11-Fa'asiu Fuatai, 12-Chase Tiatia, 13-Regan Ware, 14-Joe Webber, 15-Kaleb Trask
Reserves: 16-Nic Souchon, 17-Jordan Lay, 18-Ross Geldenhuys, 19-Stan van den Hoven, 20-Joe Johnson, 21-Luke Campbell, 22-Scott Curry, 23-Cole Forbes
