Counties, Hawkes Bay at home in semis

Counties Manukau will host Nelson Bays and Hawkes Bay will be at home to Manawatu in the second division semifinals.

Hawkes Bay maintained their unbeaten record on Saturday, thumping last year's losing finalists, East Coast, 85-12 at Ruatoria.

Wingers Ray Karauria and Joe Naivalu scored four tries each as they ran in 13 tries in a lopsided match which disappointed a large home crowd.

"You have to hand it to them [Hawkes Bay]. They're a well-drilled side," East Coast coach Joe McClutchie said.

"They're going to be a hard team to beat, no matter who they meet in the playoffs."

The game was over as a contest at halftime after Hawkes Bay led 40-5.

Counties Manukau treated their home crowd to 10 tries, four of them to Setiveni Sitivatu, in thrashing Mid Canterbury 66-7.

The win took the Pukekohe-based side to second place on the table, nine points behind Hawkes Bay.

Sitivatu, a Wesley College student last year, has scored almost as many tries this season as his age, and will be a real danger in the playoffs.

Nelson Bays deservedly beat a fumbling Manawatu 8-7 in Palmerston North. Both teams scored a try, but Nelson's Aaron Kimura landed a penalty, the only points of the second half, to win the match.

Manawatu collected a bonus point, enough for them to finish third.

In the third division, last year's finalists, North Otago and South Canterbury, are likely to clash in one of the semifinals in a fortnight.

King Country are expected to host Horowhenua-Kapiti in the other.

Though Horowhenua suffered a setback on Saturday when Poverty Bay upset them 31-22 in Gisborne, they maintained their place in the top four in the division.

Wanganui (17 points) have a slim hope of replacing South Canterbury (20) in fourth spot when they travel to play Horowhenua on Saturday.

They have to win and South Canterbury have to lose in an away match to West Coast for that to happen.

North Otago (35 points) maintained their place on top of the division with a 27-14 win over Wairarapa Bush.

King Country overcame South Canterbury 20-14 in Timaru and Wanganui beat West Coast 33-25 at home.

South Canterbury beat North Otago in the final last season and are known to be able to pull out a big game on important occasions.

On Saturday, they threw everything into a frantic finish, but were denied by some courageous defence by the Peter Fatialofa-coached King Country side.

The loss effectively killed South Canterbury's hopes of a home semifinal.

- NZPA