KEY POINTS:
The same provinces as last year have qualified for this morning's semifinals at the national men's interprovincial tournament at Levels in Timaru.
After the seventh and final section round yesterday, Bay of Plenty and North Harbour progressed from division one and Waikato and Auckland qualified from division two.
Top qualifier and unbeaten Bay of Plenty will play Auckland, the runner-up in section two.
Waikato, the only team with the perfect record of six wins, will oppose titleholder Harbour.
Waikato also had the only player to win all six matches in No 5 Mark Boe, while Bay of Plenty newcomer Jared Pender, at No 4, and Harbour's middle man, Scott Wightman, both had five wins and a half.
The expected dogfight among Bay of Plenty, North Harbour and Canterbury for the two positions from division one never materialised in the last round as Hawkes Bay dealt a 3 1/2-1 1/2 loss to the South Island interprovincial champion.
Bay of Plenty and Harbour, playing behind Canterbury, were relieved to see Hawkes Bay surge ahead early and hold on for the win that meant they qualified. In the end, Harbour captain Scott Johnson birdied 17 and won the last to beat Mark Smith 1 up and give his team a tie.
Canterbury, whose last clash with Hawkes Bay four years ago ended in a 5-0 loss, again found the northern team its nemesis.
Canterbury were down in all five matches nearing the turn and although Nic Fry turned it around against Bruce Middlemiss to win at the last when his opponent missed a small putt for a half, Bay had big wins in the bottom through Sam Hucker and Stuart Duff.
Canterbury No 2 Brad Stuart holed a long putt at the last to salvage a half with Darryn Turley, but Bay's No 1 Nick Radonich fired successive birdies and an eagle when it mattered and won 1 up despite dropping 16 and 17.
For Bay of Plenty, No 1 Danny Lee was again in fine touch, being 4-under when beating James Davis, 6 and 5, and Pender did even better; he was 6-under when downing Samuel Shin at the 16th.
