Wellington 68 Otago 7
KEY POINTS:
Otago were mauled in the lions' den at Westpac Stadium here tonight as Wellington crushed them 68-7 in a first- round Air New Zealand Cup rugby match.
A young and weakened Otago side were outclassed as Wellington scored nine tries to signal their credentials as credible challengers for this year's title.
Last year's losing finalists simply had too much in their armoury to be troubled in any facet of the game.
Unwanted All Blacks halfback Piri Weepu was lively behind a dominant forward pack and finished off the opening try of the match in the fifth minute after making the initial break down the right.
He has held his peace all week since losing his World Cup ticket but did his talking tonight by scoring another try in the second half.
Skipper Tamati Ellison was also outstanding for Wellington. The second five-eighth was busy and inventive, ran hard and deservedly scored the second try in the 10th minute.
First five-eighth Jimmy Gopperth's crosskick to the left was collected by Shannon Paku, who combined with Cory Jane to feed centre Conrad Smith before the ball was fed to Ellison.
Smith ran freely, tackled industriously and passed sweetly - all hallmarks of his game - but blotted his night by gifting Otago a try in the 15th minute.
His ability to do the right thing at the right time was a bit rusty and Smith was left looking sheepish after his attempted chip and collect was sidefooted into the arms of Alipate Fatafehi before the left wing scooted over for his side's only try, converted by Callum Bruce.
Smith was replaced 10min into the second half by Tana Umaga.
The try of the match went to Paku. He carved through the centre of the Otago defence over 50m to score under the crossbar 9min before halftime.
Gopperth was in fine kicking form, knocking over three penalties and two conversions to help Wellington to a 28-7 lead at halftime.
Otago were a shattered side for the second half and Wellington turned the occasion into a festival match as they scored at will.
Even reserve hooker Dane Coles got in the act, scoring two tries himself.
Chris Masoe, Paku, Weepu and Ellison also got on the tryscorers' sheet in the second half.
- NZPA
