Counties in race with Manawatu for semis spot

Counties Manukau and Manawatu will fight for the last semifinal spot in the final round of the second division this Saturday.

Thrashed by top finishers Hawkes Bay 45-20 in Pukekohe, Counties have an opportunity to redeem themselves by making the top four when they travel to play East Coast.

Manawatu will host Marlborough in their last-ditch attempt to qualify for the semifinals alongside Hawkes Bay (32 points), the only undefeated team in the NPC, Nelson Bays (27) and North Otago (26).

Counties may find the passage to the semis easier than Manawatu.

They are fourth on the points table with 22 and Manawatu fifth with 19. Counties play a weaker opponent - East Coast are eighth of the nine teams in the competition after just one win - than Manawatu, who face sixth-placed Marlborough.

Marlborough beat bottom-placed Mid-Canterbury 23-21 on Saturday.

Counties could leapfrog third-placed North Otago (26 points), who travel to second-placed Nelson Bays in the match of the round on Saturday.

North Otago, playing in the second division for the first time after winning promotion from the third this season, scored almost a point a minute in the second half against East Coast to win 53-29.

They were behind 15-14 at halftime.

"We are yet to play for the entire 80 minutes," North Otago coach Glenn Moore said.

Second five-eighths Mike Mavor was in fine form, scoring three of North Otago's eight tries.

Manawatu pipped Thames Valley 13-12 in Paeroa to keep their semifinal ambitions burning.

They were kept on the back foot by the powerful Thames pack, but each time they broke free they scored points. Fullback Craig Clare and No 8 Aaron Palmer scored Manawatu's tries.

Palmer's try was delightful as most players handled the ball in the end-to-end attack.

Hawkes Bay left no doubt about their class in the division when they clobbered Counties seven tries to three.

After starting well, Counties were let down by their hands and tactical kicking and trailed 21-8 at halftime.

"We made some errors and they capitalised on them. In the first half we dropped the ball and had a bad throw-in and they scored quickly," said Counties' coach Bruce Robertson. "For some reason we were put off our game. We lacked a bit of composure."

Mid-Canterbury will now prepare to play in the third division next season after Marlborough confirmed their fate with a 23-21 win in Blenheim.

- NZPA

NPC points table