The pick of this weekend’s Mitre 10 Cup action will see Wellington and Canterbury battle it out on Saturday the 19th of October with a spot in the Premiership final on the line.
Two of New Zealand’s traditional powerhouse sides will go head-to-head at the Westpac Stadium with the victor claiming the coveted carrot of being in the Premiership final. Both teams have been in great form during the final few weeks of the round-robin phase, so this game should be an absolute cracker.
Wellington v Canterbury
Saturday 19 October
Westpac Stadium
08:05
To Win (80 Mins)
Wellington 17/20
Draw 20/1
Canterbury 1/1
Wellington
The Lions enjoyed a solid round-robin phase winning seven of their ten fixtures while also registering a draw. They only lost two games this term with the first defeat being dished out by Tasman, who beat the 45 8 in Round 1. The second defeat came against North Harbour a fortnight ago where they went down 42-34.
Key to the Lions accruing a home semi-final was their ability to mass tries, with the Wellington side finishing the regular season with 321 points to their names. They have a dangerous backline and they are likely to adopt an attitude of “you may score but we’ll score more” this Saturday.
Canterbury
The most successful team in the competition’s history, Canterbury have endured a far from vintage season with their extremely slow start to the campaign resulting in them missing out on a home semi-final.
Staggeringly, it took Canterbury four Rounds to pick up their first win which saw them beat Southland 80-0. They went on a solid run after that, however, winning six of their remaining seven games.
When these two sides met during the round-robin phase, Wellington managed to pull off a 23-22 victory at this weekend’s venue.
Canterbury have a far more experienced side than their hosts with the likes of Luke Romano, Tim Bateman and Owen Francks all set to start for the visitors. These cool heads are exactly the types of players you want to field in a semi-final.
Verdict: Canterbury 1/1
While Wellington are a fantastic attacking side, semi-finals rugby is where Canterbury thrive. I can see the hosts winning this one and setting up a final against local rivals Tasman.
Written by Darry Worthington for Hollywoodbets
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