Wellington hammer Waikato 34-6 to lock away Ranfurly Shield for the summer

Wellington have won the Ranfurly Shield for the summer after a 34-6 win over Waikato. Pita Anae Ah-Sue was shown a yellow card in the second half.

Wellington have locked up the Ranfurly Shield for the summer after a comprehensive win over Waikato. The Lions had a tricky looking defence first-up against the conference-leading Mooloos. Pita Anae Ah-Sue was yellow-carded in the 51st minute for his late no-arms shot on TJ Perenara. Wellington cracked things open with a brilliant 33rd minute try to Pepesana Patafilo. Connor Garden-Bachop, Jackson Garden, Riley Higgins, James O'Reilly, Ruben Love and Xavier Roe scored tries for Wellington.

Connor Garden-Bachop scored a try in the 64th minute to give Wellington a 14-6 lead. Jackson converted the try. Wellington won 34- 6 to take the Ranfurly Shield for the summer.

The match was disappointing. The rain made for many handling errors. Referee Jono Bredin found plenty of infringements. Waikato failed to fire a shot.

Wellington beat Waikato 34-6 to take the Ranfurly Shield for the summer. Wellington have their sixth win on the bounce and have surged past Waika to the top of the Odds conference. They round out the regular season away to Counties Manukau next Sunday. The second placed Mooloos host third-placed Bay of Plenty in the final game before the playoffs.

Peter Lakai was named the MVP for the second week in a row. He was the go-to man at the lineout for two of the three tries and also showed off a nice grubber kick.