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Waikato have secured home advantage for next weekend’s Farah Palmer Cup semifinal, but they had to do it the hard way, given a scare by the winless Wellington Pride in Hamilton on Sunday.
Already assured of facing the Auckland Storm in the semis, who had handed them their first loss of the season at Colin Maiden Park last weekend, it was just a question of whether the red, yellow and blacks could ensure they returned to FMG Stadium Waikato for the rematch.
And they will, after clinging on for a 31-29 victory over Wellington in a five-tries-a-piece final-round thriller, sealed when captain Chyna Hohepa got over the ball to win a penalty right on the fulltime siren.
Pride winger Harmony Kautai had completed a hat-trick with a 42nd minute special down the left touchline to put her side back in front, but that lasted for all of three minutes as the hosts responded through Kennedy Simon, with Leata Puni Lio then diving over with quarter of an hour to play to make things more comfortable.
However, in the final minutes of their season, Wellington weren’t going to give in lightly, and when Monica Tagoai latched onto a Tamara Ruaporo grubber and went over in the 78th minute it set up a grandstand finish.
From the deep restart the visitors worked their way over halfway and up near the 22, but when No 8 Hohepa spied her opportunity to pounce at the ruck she duly did it well, coming up with the huge pressure-relieving play for her side.
Michael Bradley/Getty Images
Leata Puni Lio celebrates a try in Waikato’s narrow Farah Palmer Cup win over Wellington in Hamilton.
The other semifinal will see Canterbury take on the Hawke’s Bay Tui in Christchurch, after the defending champions secured top spot by pipping Auckland 27-24 at Eden Park on Saturday.
The red and blacks had trailed 21-0 at halftime, and looked set to be headed for a first defeat to Auckland since 2017, but winger Martha Mataele and hooker Georgia Ponsonby scored braces as they roared back into a contest which included some quality tries, but also a ton of handling errors from both sides.
Having knotted the game up at 24-24 after 61 minutes, young Canterbury pivot Hannah King earned a crunch breakdown penalty in front of the sticks, before booting over the decisive penalty shot.
It was redemption for King, who earlier missed two straight-forward conversions.
In what is their first season in the premiership division, the Tui had already done enough to have fourth place sewn up, but ahead of a rematch against a Canterbury side which annihilated them 84-14 a fortnight ago, they were rocked 63-26 by the Counties Manukau Heat in Pukekohe on Saturday.
Meanwhile, both championship quarterfinals went the way of the higher-seeded home sides, with the third-ranked Otago Spirit beating the bottom-placed North Harbour Hibiscus 39-13 in Dunedin on Saturday and fourth-ranked Tasman taking care of the fifth-placed Taranaki Whio 45-20 in Nelson on Sunday.
That sets up Tasman for an away semifinal against the top-ranked Manawatū Cyclones next weekend, with the Spirit to travel to face the Northland Kauri in the other semi.
AT A GLANCE
Farah Palmer Cup
Premiership Rd 7
At Eden Park, Auckland: Canterbury 27 (Martha Mataele 2, Georgia Ponsonby 2 tries; Hannah King 2 con, pen) Auckland Storm 24 (Chryss Viliko 2, Sylvia Brunt tries; Ruahei Demant 3 con, pen). HT: 10-21
At Navigation Homes Stadium, Pukekohe: Counties Manukau Heat 63 (Mererangi Paul 3, Ruby Tui 2, Joanna Fanene-Lolo, Grace Gago, Jaymie Kolose, Utumalama Atonio, Ngatokotoru Arakua, Ti Tauasosi tries; Hazel Tubic 4 con) Hawke’s Bay Tui 26 (Tamia Edwards, Nicolette Adamson, Jaimee Robin, Kahlia Awa tries; Krysten Cottrell 3 con). HT: 38-12
At FMG Stadium Waikato, Hamilton: Waikato 31 (Ashlee Gaby-Sutherland, Carla Hohepa, Lela Ieremia, Kennedy Simon, Leata Puni Lio tries; Ariana Bayler 2 con, Sammie Wood con) Wellington Pride 29 (Harmony Kautai 3, Lavinia Lea, Monica Tagoai tries; Tamara Ruaporo 2 con). HT: 19-15
Points: Canterbury 27, Waikato 23, Auckland 21, Hawke’s Bay 17, Counties Manukau 15, Bay of Plenty 7, Wellington 4.
Championship quarterfinals
At Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin: Otago Spirit 39 (Jamie Church 3, Sheree Hume 2, Cheyenne Cunningham, Leah Miles tries; Georgia Cormick 2 con) North Harbour Hibiscus 13 (Moana Courtenay try; Grace Freeman con, 2 pen). HT: 19-6
At Trafalgar Park, Nelson: Tasman 45 (Iva Sauvira 2, Fiaalii Solomona, Neve Anglesey, Tamara Silcock, Avau Filimaua tries; Cassie Siataga 5 con) Taranaki Whio 20 (Hannah McLean, Janelle Dhedadig, Louise Blyde tries; Laura Claridge con, pen). HT: 26-3
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