Wellington Rugby Football Union - National Representative Rugby

National Representative Rugby

The senior Wellington representative team, the Wellington Lions play in the ITM Cup, which replaced the National Provincial Championship in 2006 as the Air New Zealand Cup. The Lions have won the provincial competition four times since its inception in 1976. The titles came in 1978, 1981, 1986 and most recently in 2000. Their colours are gold and black as shown on the Lions jersey. The Lions play their home games at the Westpac Stadium, previously playing at Athletic Park until 1999. Even with an All-Star backline in the late 1990s including Christian Cullen, Tana Umaga, Jonah Lomu and Alama Ieremia what was a superb team on paper never lived up to expectations and Wellington became known for its inconsistency. More recently it should be noted however that although the Lions have been unable to win another national title the Wellington side have made it all the way to the grand final in six out of the last seven years, losing to Auckland in 2003, to Canterbury in 2004, to Waikato in 2006, Auckland in 2007, Canterbury again in 2008, and most recently to Canterbury in the 2009 Air New Zealand Cup.

The Wellington Lions' 2009 Air New Zealand Cup season went well, with the side finishing 2nd on the table. They beat Ranfurly Shield holders Southland in their semi final, but lost to Canterbury in the final at AMI Stadium on the 7th of November