Wellington have retained the Ranfurly Shield and stretched the winning start to their National Provincial Championship defence, with a hardfought 7-0 victory over Tasman.
The result marked Wellington's fifth successful defence of the 'Log O' Wood', since they captured it off Hawke's Bay last season.
The visitors to Wellington's Sky Stadium dominated the encounter, enjoying territorial and possession advantages, and forcing the Lions into twice as many tackles on defence.
Wellington's only try - and the only points of the game - came half an hour into the contest, when they won an attacking lineout and mauled the last few metres to the tryline, with hooker James O'Reilly flopping over to score. First-five Aidan Morgan converted.
With seconds remaining on the clock and the game won, the Lions were awarded a penalty handy to the posts and Morgan somehow missed his target, but the act of kicking the ball dead was enough to secure victory.
"Pretty stoked with that," admitted captain Du'Plessis Kirifi. "We had a big game on Saturday that tested a few of the boys, so to come out for a game four days later...
"That Tasman team is a great team, I knew they would be hurting after their last game and we would have to start well.
"We've always been able to score tries, but the pleasing things was the way we defended for 80 minutes."
Wellington repelled Southland's Shield challenge 39-17 on Saturday and will now travel to Christchurch to face Canterbury - also unbeaten this season - on Sunday, their third fixture in eight days.
After their second defeat of their campaign, Tasman have a chance to regroup against winless North Harbour.
Wellington 7 (O'Reilly try; Morgan conversion) Tasman 0
