Upstarts storm to semis

Poverty Bay and Wanganui pipped Horowhenua-Kapiti and Wairarapa-Bush at the post to grab semifinal spots in the third division.

Top finishers South Canterbury (27 points) will host fourth-placed Wanganui (20), and second-finishers King Country (24) will play Poverty Bay (also on 20) in this weekend's semifinals.

Though Wanganui have a better points differential, Poverty Bay had won their round-robin clash 36-22 - the first criterion to separate teams in case of a tie.

South Canterbury easily accounted for West Coast 53-16 and King Country beat Wairarapa-Bush 24-18 to retain first and second places.

Horowhenua-Kapiti and Wairarapa-Bush were the next two best teams going into the final-round matches. But Poverty Bay and Wanganui scored a bonus point each in their victories to finish third and fourth respectively.

All Horowhenua needed from their game against Wanganui was a bonus point to make the semis. But a determined Wanganui scored 27 unanswered points in the second half after trailing 13-8.

Poverty Bay, playing in one of their better all-round games this season, beat Buller 37-12 at home to move from sixth to third.

They had the game sewn up by halftime, when they led 29-0 after scoring four tries, with forwards and backs mounting sweeping attacks.

When they could not run the ball they used diagonal kicks that kept Buller on the back foot.

Wanganui flanker Charlie Mete's second try in the 56th minute and then Brendon Bartley's second penalty goal with 15 minutes remaining paved the way for their fine win.

Horowhenua threw caution away in a bid to reduce the seven-point deficit at that stage.Wanganui pounced on lapses to score two more tries in the last three minutes.

A try five minutes from fulltime to centre Adam Hill gave King Country their crucial win against Wairarapa Bush in Taupo for a home semifinal.

With 15 minutes left, King Country looked disorganised, but superb defence and a last-gasp effort put Hill clear for a match-winner.

Three tries by exciting fullback Tevita Latu sparked South Canterbury to their runaway win over West Coast in Timaru.

- NZPA

NPC points table