Wanganui and King Country in third division final

South Canterbury's modest home record this season came back to haunt them in the semifinals.

After finishing first in the round-robin, they were upset by fourth qualifiers Wanganui 17-13 in Timaru.

Wanganui will travel to Te Kuiti to play King Country in the final this Saturday.

King Country beat Poverty Bay 6-0 in Taupo to book their place in the final.

Poverty Bay succumbed to two penalties to Michael Blank.

South Canterbury were unable to fight off the lethargy that clung to them in the second half just as Wanganui grew in confidence.

As they had done in the previous match between the provinces, South Canterbury started strongly and ran in two quick tries to open up a 10-point lead.

With a mountain of possession, the home side should have put Wanganui away.

Instead, they invited them back into the match with some inaccurate kicking, poor options and simple mistakes.

When Wanganui turned at halftime to play with the wind and trailing only 13-6, they began to realise that the top qualifiers had the wobbles.

They controlled field position in the second spell, with Leon Mason playing well, and looked determined to play the game at South Canterbury's end of the field.

Che Barlow scored a try and Darren Firmin kicked four penalties for the winners.

At Taupo, King Country were put under pressure from the kickoff by a physical and tenacious Poverty Bay pack led by No 8 Thomas Soloman.

Poverty Bay won 70 per cent of possession but errors at crucial times on attack prevented them from scoring.

King Country led 3-0 at halftime after Blank kicked his first penalty in the 16th minute. He kicked his second in the 50th minute.

Poverty Bay first five-eighths Aiden Clarke had a shocking day with the boot, missing all four attempts at goal, including one which hit an upright.

- NZPA