When the race to the semi-finals has gone down to the wire

Above: All Blacks centre Conrad Smith makes a break with first five-eighth Tomasi Palu in support in OBU's heartbreaking Jubilee Cup 'virtual quarterfinal' loss to Petone in 2006.

With all eight clubs involved bracing themselves for an epic last round of Jubilee Cup matches this coming weekend, here's a look back at a selection of memorable last round matches and scenarios that played out in recent seasons.

2000 Jubilee Cup: The waves part for Johnsonville

On a day of drama, the Johnsonville Hawks produced one of the great fairytale finishes to clinch the last semi-final position up for grabs.

Sitting in sixth going into the final round-robin set of matches, Johnsonville needed a bonus point win over Oriental-Rongotai and for higher placed sides Avalon and Norths (who had beaten Johnsonville 24-3 the previous week) to both lose.

After trailing 0-29 at halftime, Avalon stormed back against Poneke, eventually losing 21-29. A late Jason Spice try for OBU sunk Norths 15-13.

Of note, had Avalon lost by seven points and not eight, they would've collected an extra bonus point and that would've knocked Johnsonville out as well.

For their part, Johnsonville got the bonus point victory they needed, racing to a 54-8 win over Ories.

The semi-final appearance for Johnsonville was the club's first and it was in their centenary year. They went on to lose 13-19 to eventual champions Petone in their Friday night playoff at Westpac Stadium.

2002 Jubilee Cup: Tough luck for Norths

Northern United's decade of dominance in Wellington club rugby started when they won the 2003 Swindale Shield. Norths went on to win the Jubilee Cup in 2004, 2006, 2008 (shared with MSP) and 2010, and made the semi-finals every year from 2003-2012.

In 2002 they finished fifth, and were sensationally shut out of the playoffs by Old Boys University who scored a last-gasp try against Ories.

Norths needed to beat Petone to have a chance - and did so by bagging six tries in a 32-10 win.

But OBU spoiled the Norths party. Down 14-19 against Ories with seconds to go, OBU re-gained the ball close to their own line and ran it the length of the field to win the match. The try-scoring hero for OBU was Shannon Paku, who just six weeks earlier was still recovering from a knee injury.

It was cruel for Norths, who only made the Jubilee Cup by the skin of their teeth with a last-minute victory in their last Swindale Shield match.

2005 Jubilee Cup: Reward for Swindale Shield winners Upper Hutt

With a six-point buffer going into the last round, Northern United were guaranteed top spot and the winning of the inaugural Andy Leslie Trophy for topping the round-robin series. Petone were also safely through, although not guaranteed a home semi-final.

But below Norths and Petone, five of the six other teams, including Swindale Shield winners Upper Hutt, were still alive heading into the last round.

MSP probably had the most to gain, needing to beat Upper Hutt at home and hoping for at least one other result to go their way. They achieved this emphatically, racing to a 20-0 lead early in the second half and holding on to win 25-17.

However, Poneke beat Wests 36-14 with a bonus point, Norths defeated Avalon 37-17 and Petone beat Tawa 36-7 and Upper Hutt thus held on to finish fourth ahead of fifth placed MSP.

Upper Hutt's reward? A playoff at Porirua Park against Norths the following Saturday.

2006 Hardham Cup: The Hardham Cup they're still talking about

In an extraordinary final round, four teams were fighting it out simultaneously in both semi-final and promotion-relegation battles right up to the fulltime whistles that signalled the end of the regular season.

At stake in the last round was the relegation of either Western Suburbs, Upper Hutt, Johnsonville or Oriental-Rongotai.

Going into the final round the only certainty was that Wainuiomata had qualified for the semi-finals with a round to spare. Their guaranteed promotion was at the expense of any one of the four incumbent Premier sides.

As it transpired on the final afternoon of the regular season, it was Wests and Johnsonville in the relegation gun - and it turned out to be some relief for Wests and huge disappointment for Johnsonville.

Wests produced a massive defensive effort to pip Ories 12-8 and Johnsonville scored four tries to beat Poneke B 31-24, meaning that Wests and Johnsonville finished equal fourth on 23 points.? But Wests survived on the ‘who beat who' tiebreaker thanks to their 27-26 win over Johnsonville back in the opening week of the Hardham Cup.

2006 Jubilee Cup: Knockout rugby starts a week early for OBU and Petone

Petone (in third) and OBU (fourth) were separated by just a point heading into their last round match at the Basin Reserve, which was effectively a straight quarterfinal with the winner guaranteed of playing in the semi-finals and the loser packing their bags for the beach as at least one other side would overtake them.

With All Black Conrad Smith at centre, OBU looked likely in the opening 20 minutes as they took a well-deserved 11-3 lead through two penalties and a sparkling try to first five-eighth Tomasi Palu. Playing into the gusty northerly, OBU played the game at speed and had Petone stretched out wide.

But the Goats had avoided facing up to the inevitable up that point - Petone's superior scrum and bigger forwards.

Petone slowly gained dominance and two penalties followed by a try to flanker Jim Morgan put them ahead 13-11 at halftime.

OBU resumed their high tempo assault in the second half, and blew at least two tries. Instead Petone extended their lead to 18-11 with a try to No. 8 James Saolele.

More drama was to come. First OBU scored through loose forward Mike Scott after a break by Smith, cutting the deficit to 16-18. Then, with just a couple of minutes remaining, Petone launched a furious assault on OBU's line and hooker Eugene Smith came up with the match clincher.

2007 Jubilee Cup: Petone seal semi-finals berth with sensational win over MSP

Heading into the final round, Petone were lying fourth, but many saw their chances of remaining in the semi-final position tenuous at best and in all likelihood either OBU or Tawa would sail past them.?

Petone's challenge on the last afternoon was a match-up against already confirmed top qualifier Marist St Pat's.

Overall, three out of four of this weekend's games had a direct influence on the playoff fortunes of the other contenders, with six points separating second placed Norths and sixth placed OBU.

Thus Petone had to win against MSP, so how did they respond? They produced the comeback of the 2007 club rugby season to secure the fourth Jubilee Cup semi-final spot, winning 39-34 in a thriller.

Petone fullback Tu Umaga-Marshall provided the final pass and veteran winger Willie Moala scored the try in the right hand corner with the last act of the game to break a 34-34 deadlock and complete a blockbuster Petone win - after they had trailed 26-8 at halftime.

In the re-match the following weekend, MSP beat Petone 24-23 in another cracking match, while HOBM defeated Norths 15-5 at Porirua Park in the other semi-final.?

2008 Jubilee Cup: The one that got away on Ories

It was heartbreak for Oriental-Rongotai's supporters, whose team narrowly missed out on the semi-finals after six years previously playing in the Hardham Cup and almost being relegated in 2006.

Norths' last round 12-11 defeat of Poneke left the door open for Ories to claim their first Jubilee Cup playoffs berth since 2002 - but Upper Hutt upset Ories' plans with a 13-12 win to squeeze them out.

A 13-man Norths came back to beat Poneke in the bleakest conditions of the season. Poneke led 6-0 early and then Ories' chances were further boosted when Norths lost prop Fono Salu to the sin bin for 10 minutes and then halfback Leon Ellison to a red card for the entire second half.

However, up and coming Norths centre Alapati Leiua sliced through to give Norths the lead, which they held to fulltime.

At the same time, Upper Hutt was holding Ories' bigger forwards at bay. Following an early try to Ories wing Paulo Aukuso, Upper Hutt first five-eighth Ben Aoina scored under the posts and then kicked two penalties to sink Ories.

Ories finished fifth again in 2009 and then sixth in 2010, before finally ending their playoff drought in 2011 - and going all the way and winning the Jubilee Cup.

2012 Jubilee Cup: Wainuiomata make the cut for the first time

Wainuiomata clinched a historic Jubilee Cup semi-finals place after defeating Norths 25-19 at home at William Jones Park to qualify fourth - at the expense of Hutt Old Boys Marist.

With Wainuiomata and HOBM in contention for the final playoff berth, Swindale Shield champions HOBM were counted as the unlucky team of the last round. The Eagles' five-try, bonus point 31-13 win over Tawa was all in vain when news that Wainuiomata had held on to defeat Norths filtered over the Hutt hills.

Eagles supporters were glued to their radios at fulltime in their match, with the Wainuiomata - Norths fixture still going for another several minutes. Norths scored a late try under the posts and attacked with everything they had right to the end.

But Wainuiomata held on to win, after leading 22-12 at halftime.

Wainuiomata met top qualifier Ories in the following week's semi-final, who themselves were in a last round dogfight with MSP, drawing 9-9 but finishing as top qualifier. Ories went on to beat Wainuiomata in their semi-final and MSP defeated Norths, setting up a final between Ories and MSP.