Defending NPC champions Canterbury went back to the top of the First Division on Friday evening after a comfortable 46 - 15 victory over Taranaki in New Plymouth.

This was the evening when the new Yarrow Stadium was officially opened, fireworks and all. Unfortunately, the show very nearly turned into a damp squib , a power cut after seven minutes , and lasting for a good quarter of an hour , threatening to undermine the celebrations.

Taranaki made a good start, dominating the opening quarter to open up a healthy 12-0 lead. But thereafter they were never in the game, Canterbury pulling themselves back into contention with a 17-12 half time lead, before pulling away in the second half.

However, this was never a vintage Canterbury performance, their play often disjointed and lacking the customary polish. Justin Marshall had a poor evening at scrum half and the slowness and inaccuracy of mush of his passing restricting the fluency of his outside backs. It was to his credit, then, that Mark Robinson at centre had one of his most effective games of this NPC campaign. Sharp off the mark , and elusive running with ball in hand, he seems to be cementing his end of season All Black place. In a sound enough forward performance , skipper Mark Hammett was lively in the loose and lock Chris Jack assured in everything he did.

Taranaki will be disappointed that they could not do more after an encouraging start. Perhaps they employed the wrong tactics, trying to run the ball when they should have been booting it downfield for position. The Canterbury defence merely lined up their runners and Taranaki had nobody elusive or powerful enough to cause consistent anxiety. The forwards predictably huffed and puffed their way through the 80 minutes but in the end their campaign foundered for lack of sufficient class.

Scorers :

Taranaki : 15 : Tries : Thompson, Austin Conversion : Lilley Penalty : Lilley

Canterbury : 46 : Tries : Hammett ( 2 ), Blair, A. Mauger, Robinson, Marshall Conversions : Blair ( 5 ) Penalties : Blair ( 2 ).