Taranaki break 20-year duck

The upsets just keep on coming in the Air New Zealand Cup after Taranaki ended twenty years of hurt by beating Wellington 29-16 in New Plymouth.

The upsets just keep on coming in the Air New Zealand Cup after Taranaki ended twenty years of hurt by beating Wellington 29-16 in New Plymouth on Thursday.

It was Taranaki's best performance of the year, following narrow defeats of Manawatu and North Harbour.

Wellington's poor showing comes two weeks after their meek loss of the Ranfurly Shield to Canterbury, although they appeared to recover with a 62-19 crunching of Counties-Manukau last weekend.

The home side outscored the Lions two tries to one and utilised the boot of Hurricanes pivot Willie Ripia to score 19 points over their Super 14 partners.

Taranaki scored both their tries off Wellington mistakes and rode a wave of second-half momentum to pull clear and hold on until full-time.

Wellington had gone into the half-time sheds holding a 16-13 lead, after a stop-start opening 40 minutes that saw much endeavour from both sides but few rewards.

Lions pivot Dan Kirkpatrick opened and closed the first half scoring, with penalties in the second and 40th minutes, both sides scored one try apiece and Kirkpatrick (one) and his Taranaki counterpart Ripia (two) kicked penalties in between.

Taranaki full-back Jamie Cameron scored the first try in the fifth minute with scores locked up at 3-3, intercepting a Wellington pass and scoring a 70 metre runaway seven-pointer.

The home side kept their noses in front until the 32nd minute when Lions centre Robert Fruean capitalised on a good period of consistent Wellington pressure inside their 22 to score in the corner after an attacking scrum.

From the set piece, David Smith found his wing partner Alapati Leuia with a cut-out pass across Taranaki's posts. Leuia was dragged down just short of the line and Taranaki reclaimed the ball only for Fruean to wrench it back for the Lions and dive over the tryline.

Kirkpatrick sent the sideline conversion between the uprights to give the Lions a three-point lead at the break.

Taranaki's second try soon after half-time was the game's decisive score, blindside flanker John Willis bursting through from close range off an overthrown Lions line-out.

Ripia kicked the conversion which gave the local team a 20-16 advantage, and then they kept up their pressure with an effective territorial game and committed defence that hindered Wellington's rhythm and accuracy.

Ripia kicked penalties in the 56th, 65th and 70th minutes to extend Taranaki's lead. The Lions fought back over the final 10 minutes but were unable to penetrate a consistent wall of amber and black jerseys.

The scorers:

For Taranaki:
Tries: Cameron, Willis
Cons: Ripia 2
Pens: Ripia 5

For Wellington:
Try: Fruean
Con: Kirkpatrick
Pens: Kirkpatrick 3

Taranaki: 15 Jack Cameron, 14 Ed Jenkins, 13 Paul Perez, 12 Jayden Hayward, 11 Shayne Austin, 10 Willie Ripia, 9 Brett Goodin, 8 Jarrad Hoeata, 7 Scott Waldrom, 6 Johnny Willis, 5 Craig Clarke, 4 Leon Power, 3 Shane Cleaver, 2 Laurence Corlett, 1 Tony Penn (c).
Replacements: 16 James Hinchco, 17 Carl Carmichael, 18 Nemia Soqeta, 19 Ben Souness, 20 Beydon Phillips, 21 Nathan Hohaia, 22 Asalemo Malo.

Wellington: 15 Buxton Popoalii, 14 David Smith, 13 Robert Fruean, 12 Shaun Treeby, 11 Alapati Leuia, 10 Daniel Kirkpatrick, 9 Alby Mathewson, 8 Victor Vito, 7 Serge Lilo, 6 Scott Fuglistaller, 5 Daniel Ramsay/Api Naikatini, 4 Mark Reddish, 3 Neemia Tialata, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Jacob Ellison (c).
Replacements: 16 Ged Robinson, 17 John Schwalger, 18 Mathew Luamanu 19 Api Naikatini / Kaipati Gaualofa, 20 Ruki Tipuna, 21 Fa'atonu Fili, 22 Apoua Stewart.

Referee: Keith Brown