Monday, November 09, 2009
Canterbury beat Wellington to win the 2009 Air New Zealand Cup
Canterbury won the tournament for the second time in succession after building up a convincing 18-3 lead at the interval before Wellington came back to take the score to 25-20 with two minutes remaining.
The home side has depth in abundance as even without their star All Blacks, they were too strong for the Wellington side, who once again failed at the final hurdle. Theyve now reached six of the last seven finals, but lost them all.
It was all guns blazing after kickoff, as the opening few minutes flowed back and forth before fullback Colin Slade gassed wing David Smith to score a great opening try.
Slade, whos had a superb season, scored again later after a pinpoint Casey Laulala long pass allowed him to go in for his second. He was later sin-binned though for a professional foul, which allowed Wellington to get back into the match, scoring ten points while he was absent.
It was Laulalas last match for the Christchurch side, as he will now head over to the Cardiff Blues in Wales to ply his trade in the UK & Europe. Voted by his peers as the best defensive and attacking player in the Air New Zealand Cup recently, it will be a massive loss for the side, but a fantastic signing for the Blues.
Alapati Leuia scored Wellingtons first try, but wing Sean Maitland came back with a sensational solo effort, capping off his superb season on the wing.
Wellington built up momentum in the last ten minutes of the match, but a late penalty to Stephen Brett knocked the wind out their sails, and sealed the victory for the prolific Canterbury unit.
Coach Rob Penney is keen to stick around so they can go for the hat-trick of titles. He paid tribute to his players.
"The guys supported each other wonderfully. It is still a team orientated game and you can't do it individually.
"The red-and-black theme is really about doing it for the team and the boys have bought into that time and time again and it's won the day again," he said.
Time: 05:49
Posted at 6:47 pm | 18 comments
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Viewing 18 comments
Ben November 09, 2009 8:37 pm
great try by Maitland.
Also love Vito tackling two man just in the beginning. Each one with a arm. Great stuff there
Also love Vito tackling two man just in the beginning. Each one with a arm. Great stuff there
Anarchangel November 09, 2009 8:50 pm
That warms the read and black cockles of my heart. I might just watch this every day until the Super 14 starts :D
Chris November 09, 2009 9:13 pm
What and ungly ass trophy that is... Great win by Canterbury though
jackohos November 09, 2009 11:08 pm
I understand that there is stadium redevelopment going on, but why are the crowds still so relatively thin for a final with some great rugby?
Anarchangel November 10, 2009 1:15 am
Jackohos: Good question. When Canterbury lost the shield two weeks ago, the away fans were louder than the home fans. It's a disgrace. The fans of the smaller unions provided all the atmosphere this year.
Anonymous November 10, 2009 5:12 am
how bout colin slade looking quite good for canterbury
decepti0n November 10, 2009 5:59 am
Congrats to Canterbury. Wellington seemed pretty outclassed for much of the match as well. Slade had the match of his life and I hope next year he gets more of a chance with the ABs or at least the Juniors.
Shame about the crowds though, it's a bit embarrassing. I can understand some midseason games being less full since Christchurch isn't a big city, but this is the final.
Shame about the crowds though, it's a bit embarrassing. I can understand some midseason games being less full since Christchurch isn't a big city, but this is the final.
Anonymous November 10, 2009 2:09 pm
typical scrum half has to be the one to kick the ball out of play!he sprinted it from the ruck he was at the bottom of and the pushed ur man out of the way just to do it!!another characteristic of little man syndrome!
Anonymous November 10, 2009 9:29 pm
Congrats to Canterbury for the win, but really the game was poor if not awful.
Anonymous November 11, 2009 3:29 am
Silly little cantab scrummie replacement, couldn't just pass the ball to brett and let him put it out. I hope he wouldn't do that if they were ahead by less than 7!
Anonymous November 11, 2009 3:31 am
Vito tackling 2 guys at once was impressive, looking forward to seeing him at the back of the AB scrum one day!!
Anonymous November 11, 2009 6:22 am
haha at 3:59 in the replay of maitlands try you can see canterburys hooker going to give the guy who missed the last tackle a pat on the head.
(sorry i dont know anyones name)
(sorry i dont know anyones name)
Prestwick November 13, 2009 12:52 am
Guys, I don't want to spoil the party here but....bloody hell that looked dead. I've seen Edinburgh play a Magners League game at Murrayfield with more fans there! Whats happening to NZ Domestic Rugby?!?!?!?!
Anonymous November 13, 2009 4:36 am
Too much rugby is all Prestwick. It's only a small country and they have a multi-tiered domestic club comp with promotion and relegation (so lots of sides with a diffusion of support), then five S14 teams that get decent support. and then the all blacs.
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