Last four found in Farah Palmer Cup

The semifinalists have been found in both divisions of the Farah Palmer Cup, setting up a tantalising weekend of playoff rugby.

Canterbury had already secured top spot in the top-tier Premiership but made it six wins out of six in the regular season as they eased past Bay of Plenty in Christchurch yesterday.

After eking out a narrow 14-7 lead at halftime, the hosts ran rampant in the second half to win 40-7.

The red-and-blacks will host Counties Manukau in their semifinal this weekend, after the Heat beat Waikato 28-19 on Saturday to knock Bay of the Plenty out of the running for the final playoff spot.

Wellington will play the second-placed Auckland Storm in the other Premiership semifinal, after coming from behind to beat the Manawatu¯ Cyclones and secure third.

The Pride trailed 26-7 at halftime against the last-placed Cyclones, but scored 35 unanswered points in the second

half to win 42-26, with Ayesha Leti-I’iga scoring five tries.

In the second-tier Championship, the first-placed Otago Spirit and second-placed Hawke’s Bay Tuis had the weekend off while a pair of quarterfinals determined their semifinal opponents.

North Harbour hosted the first quarterfinal on Saturday but couldn’t make home advantage count, losing 25-19 to the Tasman Mako, who will now play Otago next weekend.

In the other quarterfinal, Northland proved far too strong for Taranaki, with captain Te Kura Ngata-Aerengamate scoring a first-half hat-trick to help send her side through to a semifinal against Hawke’s Bay.

Northland have won four matches in a row after losing to Hawke’s Bay and Otago in the opening rounds of their debut season.

Hawke’s Bay won 64-31 when the two teams met in round one, so next week’s clash will be a good chance to see how far Northland have come.

‘‘We didn’t have the belief in our first two games, getting smashed by two really good teams, so for us to get to a semifinal is a really big thing,’’ NgataAerengamate told Sky Sport.

‘‘It’s just about chugging along every week . . . focusing on ourselves and what we needed to work on, not the teams we were playing against.

‘‘Maybe that’s why we’re here, because we’re getting better every week.’’