KEY POINTS:
Wellington thoroughly deserved their Ranfurly Shield victory last night and I don't suppose they will mind at all that they beat what was a poor Auckland team; a very poor Auckland team.
Wellington themselves didn't play all that well in the first half - and certainly not as
well as they have done all season - but they pretty much gave Auckland a walloping from one end of the field to the other.
It started up front where Neemia Tialata and John Schwalger at prop gave the Auckland scrum a nasty time. Locks Jeremy Thrush and Ross Filipo covered huge amounts of ground and did a lot of good work around the field but this was an odd anticlimax of a game.
Auckland looked out of their depth, with no real way into the game apart from a few runs by the winger David Smith. Isaia Toeava looked a man alone at times.
They were done in the loose as well, with Thomas Waldrom and Chris Masoe ruling the roost, although it was a very strange sight to see Victor Vito - about whom so much has been said - subbed off after an unconvincing game.
Piri Weepu ran the game well from halfback and when he moved out to first five and I thought Hosea Gear was one of the few to put up his hand from an All Black point of view. His try was scored after he really put the afterburners on; just a bit of a sprint and he was gone.
Schwalger was strong and probably did enough to persuade the national selectors to have another look at him.
He and Tialata annihilated the Auckland scrum and the young hooker, Dane Coles, was able to get around the paddock and do a lot.
He is a highly mobile athlete and if Corey Flynn doesn't come back from injury properly this year, Coles could be an interesting possibility at hooker for the All Black end-of-year tour.
But it was a strange game, with an oddly unsatisfying feel to it. Shield holders do not score nil very often and I guess you don't feel all that comfortable about New Zealand rugby if Auckland rugby isn't particularly strong.
But let's not take anything away from Wellington. They struggled only in the lineouts and you'd have to say they were efficient and accurate most of the time.
Coaches Jamie Joseph and Andre Bell are plainly doing a good job. Their team looks settled, consistent and happy - and that's got to be down to the management team.
They have got rid of all the silly stuff - those Wellington teams who were brilliant one week and horrible the next and have produced a smooth-running, consistent outfit.
As for Auckland, I bet coach Shane Howarth will be using the world "rebuilding" quite a lot.
Make that an awful lot.
There's plenty of work to do there and you can't help but wonder at a lack of depth in our most populous rugby union.
