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Semi-finals pictures becoming clearer in provincial competitions

National Provincial Championship | 20 September 2015 | Steven White

Semi-finals pictures becoming clearer in provincial competitions

There’s still plenty of rugby to come, but the semi-finals pictures are starting to become clearer in each of the ITM Premierships and Championship competitions and in the Women’s NPC and Heartland Championship.

On Sunday afternoon, Canterbury earned their sixth straight win over an improving North Harbour side, winning 17-10, to maintain their grip on the top of the standings.

In the match that followed, Tasman then suffered their first loss of the season, going down 19-28 to a physical Auckland side.

Tasman still lead but Canterbury have a game in hand and should be a shoe-in for a home semi-final if they win their next match against Waikato on Wednesday.

Defending champions Taranaki benefitted early from a TMO going their way when Waikato scored a clear try only to be called back for a knock-on in their battle of the bovine sides for the Ryan Wheeler Memorial Trophy. But it didn’t matter as they raced way to beat Waikato 41-0 and keep them scoreless for the first time since 1985.

An eight-point gap has now opened up in the Premiership between fourth placed Taranaki on 23 points and Waikato on 14.

Manawatu’s woes continued, hammered 14-42 by the Southland Stags, and they have plenty of work to do to retain their Premiership status.

It was mighty close at the end, but Hawke’s Bay successfully defended the Ranfurly Shield and kept their lead at the top of the Championship division standings with a 23-17 win over the Bay of Plenty Steamers on Saturday afternoon. The Magpies also won the all-important bragging rights to the one try “Bay” in New Zealand provincial rugby.

Wellington maintained second in the Championship despite dropping their concentration and the match at the end to Otago at home at Westpac Stadium. The sparse crowd of 1940 left the Lions’ Den scratching their heads, whilst Otago were joyous to snatch their second win in cinematic circumstances of the season after earlier doing the same to Taranaki.

For North Harbour, Sunday’s defeat to Canterbury was their second loss of the round, after being beaten 20-39 by Tasman in the round’s opener on Wednesday night.

Sixth placed Premiership side Counties Manukau thrashed Championship strugglers Northland 42-17 in Whangarei. Northland is the only side in all NPC competitions to remain stuck on 0 on the points table.

Waikato continues to lead the Women’s NPC by a point to defending champions Auckland, despite Auckland beating them 17-0 on Saturday.

Wellington knocked over Counties Manukau 27-12, to leapfrog them in to third in the standings, with Otago fifth after beating Bay of Plenty 41-12, Canterbury sixth after smoking Hawke’s Bay 58-5 and Manawatu seventh after having their bye this weekend.

She and her team was kept scoreless on Saturday, but Waikato centre Stacey Waaka continues to be the leading try scorer in the Women’s NPC with eight tries.

Defending top tier Meads Cup champions Mid Canterbury maintained their unbeaten record at the top of the Heartland Championship standings after beating spirited minnows East Coast 50-32 in Ashburton.

Down the road, South Canterbury beat Thames Valley 35-19, with both Mid and South Canterbury now needing just one win from their remaining three round-robin games to qualify for the top four.

Wanganui are third after drawing 17-17 with King Country, with Horowhenua-Kapiti holding the fourth position after seeing off North Otago 26-22.

In other matches on Saturday, Buller beat an underwhelming Poverty Bay 36-14 and West Coast edged Wairarapa-Bush in another potentially significant result in the race for the top for Meads Cup in October.

The ITM Cup continues on Wednesday, with unbeaten Canterbury hosting Waikato. followed by Hawke’s Bay putting the Ranfurly Shield on the line on Thursday.

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