Wellington have begun their Ranfurly Shield tenure with a comprehensive 34-6 defence against Waikato at Sky Stadium on Saturday.
In difficult conditions in the rain-soaked capital, the Lions scored the only four tries in a contest that began an arm wrestle and ended a blowout, riding a superior forward pack to pull clear in the second half and stow the Shield away for the summer.
The win extends Wellington's unbeaten streak to six games to leapfrog Waikato to the top of the Odds Conference with one round to play before the quarter-finals.
Hooker Asafo Aumua was a menace all afternoon against the Mooloo Men, while No. 8 Peter Lakai continued his sensational season with another eye-popping outing.
After the teams had traded penalties, Wellington finally broke the try-scoring deadlock courtesy of a couple of identical displays of deft handling from midfielder Riley Higgins.
Higgins sparked a break inside his own half with a silky one-handed offload around his defender to wing Pepesana Patafilo, before the duo reprised their piece of brilliance a few phases later to cross in the corner.
Waikato nailed a penalty with time expired to reduce their deficit to 10-6 at the interval.
Aiden Morgan restored Wellington's seven-point buffer with a penalty early in the second stanza, before the visitors' were dealt a blow with the loss of Pita Anae Ah Sue to a sinbinning, when the hooker failed to wraps his arms in a tackle on Lions halfback TJ Perenara.
Waikato avoided any undue damage while they were shorthanded, with Jackson Garden-Bachop missing a long-range penalty attempt in the 57th minute.
A clever line-out move laid the foundation for Welllington's second try, with Lakai and Aumua combining to rampage down the left edge, before the ball was spun wide for Julian Savea to put Connor Garden-Bachop over the line.
His brother converted the try to give the Lions a 20-6 lead with just over 15 minutes to play, which was tantamount to a mountain for Waikato given their inability to threaten their opponents' line all afternoon.
With eight minutes remaining, the Wellingtonians put the result beyond doubt with a textbook rolling maul try to James O'Reilly, before Ruben Love rubbed salt into Waikato wounds with a try with time expired.
The Lions will round their regular season against Counties Maukau at Pukekohe next Sunday, while Waikato host Bay of Plenty.
Wellington 34 (Patafilo, Love, C. Garden-Bachop O'Reilly tries, Morgan con, pen, J. Garden-Bachop 3 cons) Waikato 6 (McKenzie 2 pens)
