Wellington, NPC champions in 2000, reminded everyone of their title -winning aspirations by comfortably beating Taranaki 46-17 at the Westpac Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Taranaki have not beaten Wellington in the NPC since 1989, and did not look like doing so on this occasion. Coach Colin Cooper will have mixed feelings as a result : disappointed at his team's lack of competitiveness , encouraged by the form of some of his likely leading lights when he takes over the Hurricanes Super 12 side in 2003.

Wellington started very confidently , retaining possession to maintain continuity and effectively seal the win in the opening quarter. In that time Spice and Alatini scored good tries, Flutey converting both and kicking two penalties. It took Taranaki 37 minutes before they got into their opponents' 22 and during a period of play when they seemed to have stemmed the tide of possession, their forwards were on the verge of establishing some sort of control. But on the stroke of half time Fa'atau scored a terrific breakaway try after Christian Cullen had glided down the right hand touch line before delivering the scoring pass. 25-0 at half time.

In the second half Cullen confirmed his return to form with a terrific try of his own , Tana Umaga capped a good afternoon's work by benefiting from a Steinmetz grubber and Spice got his second. The Taranaki back row gained some compensation, no8 Masoe getting his own double and Brent Thompson getting his side's first points.

Other stand-out players were Rodney So'oialo and Pita Alatini. But the overwhelming impression of the afternoon was that nobody should yet discount this Wellington side.

Scorers :

Wellington : 46 : Tries : Spice ( 2 ), Alatini, Fa'atau, Cullen, Umaga. Conversions : Flutey ( 3 ), Holwell ( 2 ) Penalties : Flutey ( 2 )

Taranaki :17 Tries : Masoe ( 2 ) Thompson Conversion : Urwin

Teams :

Wellington : Christian Cullen , Brad Fleming, Tana Umaga ( captain ), Pita Alatini, Lome Fa'atau, Riki Flutey , Jason Spice, Rodney So'oialo, Kupu Vanisi, Thomas Waldrom, Ross Kennedy, Dion Waller, Tim Fairbrother, Shane Carter, Kas Lealamanua.

Subs : Luke Mahoney, John Pale, Milton Ngauamo, Hemi Pou, David Holwell, Paul Steinmetz, Shannon Paku.

Taranaki : Shayne Austin, James Kerr, Bryce Robins, Matthew Harvey, Chris Woods, Mark Urwin, Brendan Haami, Chris Masoe, Neil Crowley, Brent Thompson, Reece Robinson, Paul Tito ( captain ), Gordon Slater, Andrew Hore, Tony Penn.

Subs : Daniel Smith , Jason Hooper, Scott Breman , Corey Holdaway, Mepi Faoagali