Rugby: Bay of Plenty fightback falls short as Farah Palmer Cup semifinals confirmed

Izzy Waterman of Canterbury during the Farah Palmer Cup match against Bay of Plenty. Photo / photosport.nz

Canterbury will play Wellington in the Farah Palmer Cup semifinals after Bay of Plenty came agonisingly close to upsetting the top qualifiers and earning a finals rematch.

With the red and blacks' spot atop the standings already secure, and the second semifinal between Waikato and Auckland locked in, all that remained to settle yesterday was the fourth and final qualifier.

A victory over Canterbury would have been enough for Bay of Plenty to leapfrog Wellington and into the semifinals, an outcome that looked unlikely when they fell behind 26-12 in the first half in Tauranga.

But Bay of Plenty fought back well in the second spell and scored two tries in the final five minutes to make it 33-31. Kalyn Takitimu-Cook missed the chance to level the scores with a sideline conversion, but a draw would have seen the Volcanix level on points with Wellington and outside the semifinals on the head-to-head tiebreaker.

The victory saw Canterbury end the round robin with a perfect six-from-six record and they and Waikato will both be favoured to win their semifinals and set a third straight final date.

In the NPC, neither Taranaki nor Bay of Plenty were able to build on last week's surprising victories, falling to Wellington and Counties Manakau respectively.

Taranaki were coming off their first win of a disappointing season, having upset Canterbury a week ago in New Plymouth.

But they had no answer for New Zealand under-20s star Peter Lakai at Sky Stadium yesterday, as the No 8 grabbed a hat-trick of tries in a 31-25 triumph.

Wellington also came into the contest with one win from their opening three games but, with Lakai scoring his first and Nehe Milner-Skudder also on the scoresheet, they jumped out to a 17-6 lead at halftime.

That advantage soon swelled to 31-13 as Lakai continued to run rampant and they were able to withstand Taranaki's strong finish, despite losing Asafa Aumua to the sin bin for a shoulder to the head of Daniel Waite that could have easily seen the hooker sent off.

Bay of Plenty, meanwhile, showed little of the verve that saw them earn a stirring victory over Auckland at Eden Park last week, undone by the boot of Counties first five-eighth Riley Hohepa.

The hosts scored the only two tries of the match in Tauranga, but Hohepa struck six penalties to set up an 18-13 win, leaving both sides with two wins from four games this season.

In the final match of the round in Whangarei, Northland were far too strong for Southland, securing a straightforward 32-19 triumph.

Northland halfback Lisati Milo-Harris scored two first-half tries as the Taniwha went to the sheds with a 27-7 advantage, with a strong-finishing Southland unable to capitalise on their opportunities.

The hosts ended the game on a sour note as, with the hooter having already sounded, substitute pivot Daniel Hawkins was sent off for a shoulder charge.