We’re in for a cracking final when Canterbury square off against Wellington in the NPC final set to take place at the OrangeTheory Stadium on Saturday. Darry Worthington previews.
Canterbury v Wellington
Saturday 22 October
Orangetheory Stadium
08:05
Canterbury 52/100 | Draw 20/1 | Wellington 33/20
Handicap
Canterbury (-4.5) 9/10 | Wellington (+4.5) 9/10
It’s the battle of the big guns this Saturday with the most successful team in New Zealand domestic rugby history taking on the men from the capital, Wellington.
Both sides have been prolific this far in the competition with Canterbury winning nine of their ten round-robin fixtures – their only defeat came at the hands of Taranaki (16-10) way back in Round 2 – while Wellington won eight of their ten with their defeats coming at the hands of Northland (6-15) and Canterbury (43-10).
While Wellington were well beaten in the round-robin phase against this weekend’s opponents, it has to be noted that Leo Crowley’s men were struggling to gel at that point.
They are now a fully galvanized squad as their play-off showings illustrate, beating a dangerous Hawke’s Bay side 28-21 in the quarters before backing that up with a free-flowing 54-19 win over a very strong Auckland outfit.
Canterbury have been slightly less prolific over the past fortnight as they registered a 23-16 win over a dogged Northland side in the quarter-finals, following that up with last weekend’s 24-10 semi-final win over Bay of Plenty.
This should be an absolute cracker of a final and we may well see a boatload of points here as Wellington are not afraid to run the ball.
I reckon Wellington’s more attacking approach will stand them in good stead here, especially with the current weather forecast calling for clear skies on Saturday. Big value here at 33/20.
