The Hawke's Bay Magpies will play Nelson-Marlborough side and defending champion Tasman Makos in its first-ever national rugby championship Division 1 home semifinal next Saturday at McLean Park, Napier.
The match, in the playoffs for the Premier and overall title of NPC champion, will start at 4.35pm, and will be just Hawke's Bay's fourth top-division semifinal in the 46 years of the championship, to which playoffs and finals were added only in 1992.
The second semifinal will be between Waikato and Canterbury, starting at 7.05pm, and a Magpies win will mean the title is decided the following weekend also at McLean Park – which was the venue for the first-ever NPC Division 1 game on May 12, 1976.
With Hawke's Bay ending the regular season No 1-ranked for the first time, the semifinals draw was confirmed Saturday when Canterbury eliminated Bay of Plenty with a 40-28 win in Christchurch in the last regular-season Premier match of a season hit heavily by the Covid-19 crisis.
Earlier in the afternoon, Tasman, targeting the title for a third year in a row, eliminated Wellington with a 34-22 win in Blenheim, and on Friday night Waikato both clinched No 2 ranking and avoided elimination with a 27-25 win in Rotorua.