| Home team | Canterbury |
| Away team | Wellington |
| Venue | One NZ Stadium |
| Competition | NPC |
| Kick-off time | 8:10 am (UK) 7:10 pm (NZ) |
| Watch Live in the UK | NPC Youtube |
Canterbury vs Wellinngton preview as the sides meet in round seven of the NPC, Canterbury have 20 points form their four wins in six games.
Wellington have points, but are still waiting on their first win of the season.
Read more match previews here
Canterbury vs Wellington confirmed lineups
| Canterbury | Wellington | ||||
| Forwards | |||||
| Lienert-Brown | 1 | Bean | |||
| McAlister | 2 | Poasa | |||
| Brown | 3 | Hewitt | |||
| Fale | 4 | Delany | |||
| Cahill | 5 | Falloon | |||
| Treacy | 6 | Ropeti | |||
| Kellow | 7 | Kirifi | |||
| Gardiner | 8 | Raviyawa | |||
| Backs | |||||
| Chapman | 9 | Henry | |||
| White | 10 | Harkin | |||
| Punivai | 11 | Davis | |||
| D McLeod | 12 | Filipo | |||
| Cameron | 13 | Proctor | |||
| MacDonald | 14 | Palu | |||
| Knewstubb | 15 | Solomon | |||
| Replacements | |||||
| Bell | 16 | Saxon | |||
| Helu | 17 | Turnbull | |||
| Ainsley | 18 | Crichton | |||
| Dalzell | 19 | Petaia | |||
| Barnes | 20 | Halalilo | |||
| Burra | 21 | WIlliams | |||
| Bell | 22 | Burgess | |||
| Fihaki | 23 | Ropata | |||
Lineup changes:
C: Changes to both props with Lienert-Brown and Brown coming in. Fale comes in at lock. Kellow comes into at seven and Gardiner shifts to eight. White starts at 10 and Knewstubb shifts to full-back. Cameron comes in at 13 and McLeod moves to 12. MacDonald starts at 14.
W: Henry comes in to start at nine. Solomon will start at full back.
Key matchups
Kellow vs Kirifi
Kirifi has been the standout player for Wellington so far this season and offer dynamic carrying and breakdown disruption. For Canterbury, Kellow will be focused on disrupting the ball and getting his side back in possession as quickly as possible.
McLeod vs Filipo
McLeod will shift inside to the 12 shirt where he will look to dictate the play with a mixture of powerful carrying and distribution but he will come up against the fast-stepping and powerful Filipo.
Recent Form:
Canterbury (Home team):
| Result | Date | Competition | Opponent | Score |
| Won | 5th September 2026 | NPC | Waikato | 14-36 |
| Loss | 29th August 2026 | NPC | Taranaki Bulls | 40-26 |
| Loss | 20th August 2026 | NPC | Northland | 12-36 |
| Won | 15th August 2026 | NPC | Bay of Plenty | 33-28 |
| Won | 9th August 2026 | NPC | Otago | 15-19 |
Canterbury got back to winning ways with a strong victory away to Waikato. They started fast and some brilliant offloads put Dallas McLeod over in the corner in the third minute. Waikato hit back with a brilliant try featuring an incredible offload in the seventh minute. The score remained the same for well over 20 minutes and Canterbury got on the board next after they powered over through their forwards.They would fo into the break with a 12-7 lead.
Canterbury got off to the perfect start in the second half and after a great kick through McLeod got his second try of the game. Waikato shot straight back and kicked the coversion to get the scores to 19-14. Waikato were close to taking the lead on 60 minutes, but the ball was knocked over the line trying to gather the ball. Canterbury applied the pressure late on, kicking to take the score past seven points difference. They started to take advantage of the more broken field left by the Waikato defence late in the game. After a huge break Chay Fihaki, Canterbury were able to score from a scrum move. They finished the game with another finished off by Andrew Knewstubb, coming off a great break.
Wellington (Away team):
| Result | Date | Competition | Opponent | Score |
| Loss | 5th August 2026 | NPC | Tasman | 42-28 |
| Loss | 30th August 2026 | NPC | Counties Manukau | 35-46 |
| Loss | 23rd August 2026 | NPC | Otago | 61-22 |
| Loss | 13th August 2026 | NPC | North Harbour | 7-47 |
| Loss | 8th August 2026 | NPC | Auckland | 34-31 |
Wellington’s winless start to the season continued as they lost out to Tasman, conceding six tries. They had a strong first half and, despite conceding first in the corner, scored two tries to take a 14-7 lead into the break. Filipo got held up in the 11th minute in a strike play that all would have assumed that he scored.
Tasman came out flying in the second half and scored four unanswered tries, which included some huge yardage made from their inside passes, and intricate starter plays off set-pieces. Shortly after returning from the sin bin, Callum Harkin put Du’Plessis Kirifi through a gap to score after Tasman had knocked on from the kick-off. This brought Wellington back within 14 points, and they were pushing for more in the final 10 minutes. When attacking on the edge of the 22, Wellington got penalised for being off their feet in the ruck, and a quick tap saw leading try scorer Taumoefolau run 70 yards to score. Wellington would get a consolation off the back of an overthrown lineout, but it would only see them come within 14 points of Tasman.
Canterbury vs Wellington head-to-head record (last five matches):
| Date | Competition | Winner | Score |
| 2nd August 2025 | NPC | Canterbury | 15-33 |
| 1st September 2024 | NPC | Wellington | 21-46 |
| 27th August 2023 | NPC | Wellington | 31-36 |
| 22nd October 2022 | NPC Playoffs | Wellington | 18-26 |
| 13th August 2022 | NPC | Canterbury | 43-10 |
Canterbury won the game against Wellington last year by 18 points, but Wellington won three in a row before that, including the 2022 final.
Predictions
- Canterbury win
- 60+ points in the game
- Canterbury 25+ point win-margin
