Wellington 59-45 Bay of Plenty: Lions win thrilling Mitre 10 Championship final in extra-time
Last Updated: 27/10/17 1:56pm
Wellington claimed a thrilling 59-45 win over Bay of Plenty in extra-time of the Mitre 10 Championship final.
As a result of the victory, Wellington have secured promotion into next season's Mitre 10 Premiership.
The scores were locked at 40-apiece at the end of 80 minutes, with both sides notching six tries each in an energetic affair at Westpac Stadium. Wellington No 10 Jackson Garden-Bachop missed an 80th-minute penalty attempt from 40 metres out which would have secured victory earlier for the eventual champions.
However, the fly-half made up for it in extra time, putting Wes Goosen over with a looping pass and converting from out wide for a one-score lead before his crossfield kick allowed Sitiveni Paongo to dot down.
Julian Savea, who will feature for the Barbarians against the All Blacks at Twickenham next week, scored the Lions' ninth try to give the home side an unassailable 59-40 lead at the start of the second period of extra time.
Bay of Plenty had the final say in the game when flanker Mitch Karpik crossed shortly before the whistle, but it was not enough as Wellington came away with the spoils.
Bay of Plenty were the ones to open the scoring at Westpac Stadium at the start of the match, with No 9 Luke Campbell diving over with less than five minutes on the clock.
The hosts replied through Goosen 10 minutes later when he offloaded to centre Thomas Umaga-Jensen after gathering his own kick ahead.
A superb solo try from Joe Webber put the visitors further ahead before Garden-Bachop added a penalty to reduce the deficit. Sam Lousi then crossed for Bay of Plenty, with Garden-Bachop's conversion giving them the lead for the first time in the game with a 15-14 advantage.
Tolu Fahamokioa and Brad Shields crossed for unconverted Wellington scores either side of half-time, and Garden-Bachop then added another penalty to make it 28-14 to Wellington.
However, Tyler Ardron's first and Webber's second tries arrived in quick succession to hit back for the visitors, with Mike Delany converting both to tie the game up after 54 minutes.
The tries kept coming, with Fahamokioa crossing for another before Jesse Parete sniped over to once again lock up the scores.
The final 10 minutes saw further tries, with Alex Fidow putting Wellington ahead only for Terence Hepetema to score in the 77th minute to force extra time in one of the most exciting finals to play out in the Mitre 10.