McClennan's Auckland side makes Final

The Auckland Lions booked themselves a spot in the Bartercard Cup grand final with an impressive 27-14 win over the Canterbury Bulls in Auckland on Sunday.

The Brian McClennan coached Lions put on a ruthless display in front of a parochial crowd at Western Springs Stadium.

The Auckland side opened the scoring early with a try to centre Paletasala Ale.

They had enjoyed plenty of possession in the first few minutes and it told when Ale shot down the touchline to score.

Captain Steve Buckingham added the extras to give the Lions a 6-0 lead.

But while they held the lead their bench was reduced to three men after Ale ? who was injured in the process of scoring - was forced to leave field.

The try sparked the Bulls into action and they quickly answered back when centre Lee Fidow showed plenty of skill to sneak through the impressive Lions defence to collect Canterbury?s first try of the match.

And it wasn?t long before Fidow struck again.

The Bulls showed plenty of skill with the ball in hand and that took its toll on the Lions? defence.

Again Fidow managed to find his way to the line and the Bulls took the lead 8-6.

Repeat penalties from the Lions gifted the Bulls plenty of territory.

But McClennan?s men showed they were up to the challenge keeping the roaring Bulls at bay.

It didn?t take the Lions too long to get back into the swing of things and they regained the lead when fullback David Fisiiahi charged over to finish off a brilliant piece of team play.

With Buckingham?s conversion the Lions held a 12-8 advantage.

With veteran forward Julian O?Neil on the field guiding their forward pack the Lions started to take control.

They added another try to Miguel Start soon after and with Buckingham on target they held an 18-8 lead at halftime.

The Lions came back from the break and quickly got back into their work.

Their fourth try showed just how much talent is on show in the Auckland team.

They put together a great piece of team work to set Wayne McDade up with a great try under the posts.

Again Buckingham collected the extras and the Lions had a commanding 24-8 lead.

But the Bulls were not about to give up.

The Phil Prescott-coached side made the most of any chance and it wasn?t long before Lusi Sione notched up their third of the game.

Wing Scott Hurrell added the conversion to shorten the gap to 24-14.

With penalties going against them the Lions were forced to do plenty of defensive work.

But to their credit their line held and they managed to force the Bulls on to the back foot again.

A timely penalty saw Buckingham add an extra two points to Auckland?s tally midway through the second half.

And then with the clock winding down the skipper nailed a brilliant field goal to finish the game 27-14.

The Bulls second place finish at the end of the regular season will see them earn a life as they look to the elimination game to be played tonight between the Tamaki Leopards and Waitakere Rangers.

The winner of this game will face Phil Prescott?s Canterbury side next week in the last chance to book a place in the Grand Final.

The Rangers vs Leopards match will be televised live and free-to-air by Maori Television at 8pm tonight from Mt Smart Stadium