Wellington have secured a semifinal spot in the Mitre 10 Cup Championship after demolishing Southland 60-21 at Westpac Stadium.
The emphatic bonus point trouncing brings Wellington within a point of Championship leader Otago, and creates an insurmountable 16 point buffer over fifth-placed Bay of Plenty with three games remaining.
After several close wins, the comfortable nature of the scoreline would have pleased Wellington coach Earl Va'a, who saw his raft of big name players all contribute in their best attacking performance of the season.
The most telling disparity between the two sides came in the forward packs. The Wellington forwards epitomised the modern game - running at pace, fending and constantly looking to link up with support runners.
Vaea Fifita was the most dangerous, running for 98 powerful metres; in comparison the Southland forward pack could only muster a pitiful 82 metres combined as they lacked incision and width in their play.
