After absorbing some early pressure, the first of Wellington's nine tries came when captain Rebecca Mahoney cleared the ball from just outside her 22m with a kick. The ball was recovered at the breakdown for fullback Huia Paul to run through some weak defence and score the first of her four tries.
Paul played a big part in Wellington's second try following a prolonged period of play under the shadow of the Otago posts. The ball was spread wide, with Paul providing the extra link to leave the Otago defence flat-footed for winger Ruby Finau to score.
Paul was back in action again soon after, cutting the Otago defence to shreds to score on the end of a 55m run up the middle. She then put flanker Shaan Waru away for a try after a blistering 40m run through the midfield. Paul's third try came from a clever piece of play from halfback Tatiana Tafatu, who appeared to be passing the ball from a scrum to the open side, but changed at the last second to take advantage of a huge blindside, for Paul to run in unimpeded.
The dust had hardly settled on Wellington's 31-0 halftime lead when Paul weaved her magic again to score her fourth try 52 seconds into the half and allow Wellington the luxury of giving its reserves a run.
Changes were also made in the Otago side which, despite being kept inside its own half, lifted its defensive game, improved its set pieces and put the breaks on Wellington's scoring. Only a double to centre Shakira Baker in the final 10 minutes blew the score out.
Baker had proved a handful in midfield all game but was given space to exploit some defensive weaknesses late in the game.
Otago could be happy with its set piece and the sterling efforts of locks Michaela Smith and Kylie Cathro, but the players and coaching staff realise there is a lot of work to be done.
"The only way is up," Spirit captain Gemma Tuhega said afterwards.
Otago players such as Tuhega were involved in last weekend's club final and the team had only one training session earlier in the week.
Tuhega was playing with three stitches in her head, but was not going to miss Otago's first game in the NPC.
Mahoney was pleased with the contribution made by the Wellington replacements and with the overall competitive nature of her side.
THE SCORES:
• Wellington Pride 57
Huia Paul 4, Shakira Baker 2, Ruby Finau, Shaan Waru, Rejieli Uluinayau tries; Rebecca Mahoney 6 con
• Otago Spirit 0
• Halftime: Wellington 31-0
