Wellington still aiming high

Southland 13 Wellington 10

Wellington coach Dave Rennie believes his team can recover from their disastrous start to the NPC and make next month's finals.

Wellington's loss to Southland leaves them with one win from four games and eighth on the table - an ignominious position for the defending champions.

They are back at WestpacTrust Stadium again this Saturday to play Counties Manukau.

Wellington will have All Blacks Tana Umaga and Jonah Lomu back for the game, but will be without skipper and hooker Norm Hewitt, who damaged medial ligaments in his knee on Saturday night.

Shane Carter will start in his place, and could assume the captaincy as he does when he replaces Hewitt off the bench.

Wing Brad Fleming is also in doubt after he hurt his knee against Southland.

But Rennie warned his players that they should not rely on Lomu and Umaga to spark a desperately needed mid-season revival.

"It's a tough road now, bloody tough, and this will show the character of the team if they are going to come out fighting this week.

"Jonah and Tana are back, but if the boys think they are going to be the ones to carry us through, it's not going to happen. We know everyone has to fire."

The win was Southland's first in the competition this season, but Rennie denied his players had taken the southerners too lightly.

"We couldn't afford to be cocky, not in the position we were in because we had already lost to Bay of Plenty. There was no way the guys didn't respect Southland."

Rennie felt the game was a step up from the loss to Bay of Plenty.

"I know we made a lot of mistakes, but we created opportunities and got some go-forward ball and had them on the ropes a few times."

Wellington did create some try-scoring chances in the second half, but desperate defence or Wellington mistakes snuffed them out.

Southland made all the play in the first half, with a straight-forward lineout delivering good possession, and strong driving from the pack laying a solid platform for the backs.

Des Tuiavi'i, who is on loan to Southland from the Brumbies, opened the scoring with a try in the sixth minute, and the conversion and penalty from first five-eighth Ashley Barron gave Southland a 10-3 lead at halftime.

Wellington closed the gap with a try to Shannon Paku when he scored seconds after replacing Fleming.

David Holwell's conversion levelled the scores until Barron landed the winning penalty.

There were still 21 minutes to play and Wellington went close to snatching victory on several occasions, but it was never going to be their night.

The loss has left them in an unenviable position.

"There are plenty of challenges in rugby and we've put ourselves in a corner," Rennie said.

" It's going to be a big challenge to push for the top four. We're going to have to beat all the top sides to get there."

- NZPA