Having just managed to overcome the Bay of Plenty last week, we went to watch the Lions’ last home game of the season (unless they finish first or second in the table, of course, in which case they will play a home semi / final) not quite sure what to expect. The opposition was Southland, not normally regarded for their rugby achievements, but having had a number of reasonable results this season.

In the end it was a relatively one-sided affair, with Wellington running out winners 53-12 and scoring seven tries in the process. That consolidates our position in third place in the table, and means with a bit of luck we should make it through to the semi-finals. Having said that our last three games of the season are on the road, including away to Canterbury next week (they’re currently top of the table) then away to Auckland the week after (they’re currently second in the table). Oh well! We can but hope.

We were all able to go to the game this week as Rodney was on holiday in Rarotonga so his ticket was going spare. Unfortunately, having started off as a bright sunny day, the clouds came in mid-afternoon and the wind picked up. We’re due to be experiencing a southerly over the next few days too, so it was also a very cold wind.

Today was a glorious day in Wellington – bright sunshine, blue skies without a cloud in sight. Just the weather to be watching the Lions play rugby. Kate was a bit tired, so I ended up taking both Granny and Isabel to the game.

Wellington played in fits and starts. Having managed to get to a 23 – 8 lead at halftime, they decided not to play for most of the second, allowing Bay of Plenty to score 24 unanswered points to go out to a 32 – 23 lead. Fortunately for those of us who have paid to go and see them the Lions realised they were losing and chose to step up a gear in the last 15 minutes. They scored two more tries, one of which they were extremely lucky to have been given (it even went up to the video ref), and a penalty to end up winning 38 – 32 and move up to third in the table.

Having put up two dismal performances against North Harbour and Otago, the Lions finally put in a decent performance and beat Waikato 41-17. Unfortunately for us they were playing away in Hamilton, so we had to watch it on the TV. Still, it might not have been a bad thing, as it didn’t look to be too warm.