Winger Losi Filipo has scored a hattrick of tries to launch Wellington past Waikato 41-24 at Hamilton and stretch their unbeaten start of the 2023 National Provincial Championship.
After half an hour, the Lions trailled 17-15, but outscored their rivals 26-7 over the remaining 50 minutes for their seventh win from as many games so far this campaign.
Ever the opportunist, Filipo was at the right place at the right time twice for intercept tries that broke the hearts of the home side. The other - his second - came from a set move from a five-metre scrum just before halftime to put the defending champions 10 ahead at the break.
Lock James Tucker scored soon after the restart to bring the Mooloos within three points, but Filipo's second intercept swung momentum back to the visitors and a yellow card to fullback Tepaea Cook-Savage certainly didn't help Waikato's hopes of late rally.
"We've got to be happy with the result and where we are in the season, but I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty disappointed with how we played tonight," said Wellington captain Du'Plessis Kirifi. "We spent too long going toe to toe with a Waikato team that's really physical and you give them too many opportunities, you get a scoreline like that.
"We've scored a lot of points, but we let a lot in, so the train goes on, but pretty disappointing.
"Just being accurate - the lesson for us is not to get ahead of ourselves. We can score points, but for us, it's about earning them."
Wellington have more than a week to correct those shortcomings before visitng Bay of Plenty, while Waikato visit Auckland next Saturday.
Wellington 41 (Filipo 3, Love, Plummer & Numia tries; Morgan 4 conversions & penalty) Waikato 24 (Cook-Savage, Roe, Sinkinson & Tucker tries; Cook-Savage 2 conversions)
