The Wellington Lions after their 29-22 win over Counties-Manukau in 2019.
After an indifferent first four rounds of the NPC, the Lions turn to host the Counties Manukau Steelers at home at Wellington their fifth round fixture on Saturday.
The match between the two teams currently operating in the wooden spoon zone is for the Jonah Lomu Memorial Trophy, so plenty on it outside of the context of the competition.
This is a winnable fixture for the Lions with the Steelers also 0/4 and testing their fans. They are coming off a 10-45 loss to Waikato while Wellington lost 22-61 to Otago in their last start.
The good news for Wellington supporters is that the Lions are not out of it. With a quarter-finals knockout system in place for October, the Lions (on 3 points) are just 10 points off eighth place (Bay of Plenty on 13). With six matches to play and 30 competition points up for grabs they can still make the playoffs. Who would want to play Wellington in a knockout game?
It’s hard to find information on injury updates and player news but a known injury list for the Lions has included players such as Callum Harkin, Brad Shields, Stanley Solomon and Losi Filipo, plus Du Plessis Kirifi left the field early with an HIA against Otago. No chance of leading All Blacks returning, with the test in the USA and then two Bledisloe Cup tests to follow, but a couple of the non-test guys could return soon, such as Siale Lauaki and Xavier Numia.
Harkin returns for this match against the Steelers and slots into first-five, with Losi Filipo and Matt Proctor occupying the midfield. William Davis-Lenz was a late inclusion last week off the bench for Proctor, and he starts on the left wing. Northern United prop Bradley Crichton comes on to the bench.
A hat-trick for William Davis-Lenz earlier this year.
The biggest inclusion for this match is Rupeni Raviyawa coming in to the side to start at N0. 8 to make his NPC debut.
Rupeni Raviyawa in action this year for HOBM.
For Counties-Manukau, former Hutt Old Boys Marist player Tomasi Alosio starts at centre.
Tomasi Alosio scores for HOBM in their 2021 McBain Shield win over Petone.
Similarly, the Tasman Mako challenge new holders Northland for the Ranfurly Shield this weekend. Should they win then Wellington will have first crack at it when they play Tasman in the following round. If those stars aligned and they won that, then the Lions’ start so far could be seen as a genius rope-a-dope move and head coach Trent Renata could get a new star plaque down on Tawa’s main road.
The match on Sunday is also Club Round, and supporters will be anxious to see what clubs this year’s new Lions are affiliated with.
The NPC competition permutations aside, Friday’s match takes on significance because the two sides play for the Jonah Lomu Memorial Trophy.
Wellington v Counties Manukau 2001 lineups. Jonah Lomu scored two tries for Wellington that day in a surprise 47-0 win.
Legend Lomu tragically passed away in 2015.
This will be the eighth match between the two unions honouring the life of Lomu, who was a proud Counties and Wellington player and a leading attacking weapon and crowd favourite for both provincial unions. He played 29 games for Counties Manukau between 1994-1999 and 21 games for Wellington between 2000-2003.
Wellington won the first six Lomu Trophy matches: 28-27 in 2016, 53-12 in 2018, 29-22 in 2019, 53-20 in 2020, 64-31 in 2022 and 56-25 in 2023. Counties-Manukau won their last one in 2024: 51-12.
In 2016’s first clash for the Jonah Lomu Memorial Trophy in Pukekohe, Jackson Garden-Bachop landed a last-minute penalty for the one-point win for Wellington.
The win in 2022 was their highest total against any side since beating Otago 68-7 at Wellington in July 2007 (also Dane Coles’ NPC debut).
The Lions also posted 60 points against the Steelers in their 2009 fixture, winning 62-19 in Pukekohe. That was the match that wing Hosea ear scored four tries before 60 minutes were up and then got dragged, putting historians and statisticians in a flap as he was headed for a bigger, perhaps record-breaking try haul. Of note, Tasman’s Kyren Taumoefolau scored five tries against them just a few weeks ago in their 50-33 win.
Gear’s four-try haul against the Steelers was equaled by current All Blacks hooker Asafo Aumua who scored four tries in the 64-31 win in 2022.
The two provinces met for the first time in any representative match at Athletic Park in the inaugural National Provincial Championship competition in 1976. Wellington won 15-4 that day, but it was not a result that was going to be replicated too often over the next decade of matches between the two sides. In fact, Counties proved a nemesis for Wellington sides up until the mid-1980s, winning six and drawing one out of their next eight matches until Wellington broke the shackles and defeated them 43-19 in 1985.
Wellington has generally had the better of clashes since – with the exception of the late 1990s when Lomu was part of a blockbusting Steelers side.
Overall, the two sides have met on 39 occasions: Wellington has won 24 times to Counties Manukau’s 13 times. There have been two draws.
Wellington has scored 1,082 points against Counties Manukau
They did not play in 2025, but the Lions won the last time they played: a quarter-final at Wellington in 2024. The Lions have not been beaten at home by Counties Manukau since 2010.
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