Eke players in NPC final

A Wellington Pride side, which includes seven Eketahuna players, will meet Auckland in the grand final of the NPC women's rugby competition in Hamilton next weekend.

Wellington made sure of their place in the decider when they scored a decisive 48-13 victory over Canterbury at the Petone Recreation Ground on Saturday in the last of their round-robin games.

It was a superb performance by Wellington, who battled into a strong wind yet still managed to lead 26-13 at the break.

"We were under the pump for the first 15 minutes but then the forwards took control, they [Canterbury] could hardly get their hands on the ball," Wellington captain Rebecca Mahoney said.

So much did Wellington depend on their pack to call the tune Mahoney, who was playing at first-five, can't recall kicking the ball in that first 40 minutes.

It was a different story in the second spell though with Wellington then keen to play a territory game and Mahoney's tactical kicking skills ensuring that too was a wise tactic.

In all Wellington scored seven tries with Eketahuna midfielder Shakira Baker touching down for two of them. She was part of an impressive backline, the star of which was fellow Eketahuna player Maia Tua-Davidson who, in Mahoney's words, "smashed them on attack and smashed them on defence".

Wellington were comfortably beaten by Auckland earlier in the season but Mahoney is looking forward to the rematch. "For us it's all about everything to gain and nothing to lose. They will be the hot favourites but that won't worry us ... we'll give them heaps."