Mooloos v Cantabs in Final

Canterbury will meet Waikato in the NPC Final, after the two teams scored impressive victories in their final round of league action on Saturday.

The Final will take place in Hamilton on September 3.

Canterbury christened the new Dunedin World Cup stadium by beating Otago 29-16 in their match on Saturday.

In a keenly contested match Otago took a slender 13-11 half-time lead, before Canterbury’s class shone through in the second half to take a 22-16.

Canterbury centre Robbie Fruean then killed the game off with a late intercept try.

And although Canterbury searched for the bonus point try, which would have secured them a home Final, it was Otago who almost ended the game with something to cheer.

However, veteran All Black prop Kees Meeuws was disallowed a try by the TMO with time up.

* Earlier in the day it was an 84th minute try that saw Waikato secure a place in the Premiership Final.

The Mooloo Men scored a bonus point 26-19 win over Auckland, with Stephen Donald crashing over for the fourth try.

Discarded All Black Liam Messam stormed up the field deep into injury time, before linking with Donald to give Waikato the right to host the Final.

Donald says it was thrilling stuff.

He says on one hand they were chasing the bonus point, but there was also the chance of Auckland scoring down the other end.

The match represented the last in New Zealand for Auckland stalwart Joe Rokocoko.

* In the other match on Saturday Counties-Manukau finished their NPC Championship campaign on a high.

They beat Northland 39-19 in Pukekohe.

Both teams have finished with four wins and six losses this season.

Sherwin Stowers reaped the sowing of his hard-working forward pack bagging a hat-trick in the final game for both teams who will continue to play their football in the lower tier of the competition.

All Saturday’s scores and scorers:

Waikato 26-19 Auckland:

The scorers:

For Waikato:
Tries: Donald 2, Willison, Renata
Cons: Renata 2, Donald

For Auckland:
Try: Moala
Con: Anscombe
Pens: Anscombe 4

Teams:

Waikato: 15 Trent Renata, 14 Henry Speight, 13 Save Tokula, 12 Jackson Willison, 11 Tim Mikkelson, 10 Stephen Donald, 9 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 8 Alex Bradley, 7 Marty Holah, 6 Liam Messam, 5 Romana Graham, 4 Toby Lynn, 3 Nathan White (captain), 2 Marcel Cummings-Toone, 1 Toby Smith.
Replacements: 16 Vance Elliott, 17 Ben May, 18 Matt Vant Leven, 19 Zak Hohneck, 20 Brendon Leonard, 21 Sam Christie, 22 Declan O’Donnell, 23 Ted Tauroa.

Auckland: 15 Dave Thomas, 14 Joe Rokocoko, 13 Hadleigh Parkes, 12 Winston Stanley, 11 George Moala, 10 Gareth Anscombe, 9 Alby Mathewson, 8 Peter Saili, 7 Sean Polwart, 6 Nathan Hughes, 5 Steven Luatua, 4 Josh Katene, 3 Charlie Faumuina, 2 Tom McCartney (captain), 1 Pauliasi Manu.
Replacements: 16 Nathan Vella, 17 Angus Ta’avao, 18 Richard Haddon, 19 Ben Masoe, 20 Toby Morland, 21 Piers Francis, 22 Brent Ward, 22 Tevita Mailau.

Referee: Keith Brown

Counties Man 39-19 Northland:

The scorers:

For Counties Manukau:
Tries: Stowers 3, Aki, Pulu, Tuala
Cons: Kerr 3
Pen: Kerr

For Northland:
Tries: Heem, Caine, McPhee
Cons: Munro 2

Teams:

Counties-Manukau: 15 Tim Nanai-Williams, 14 Ahsee Tuala, 13 Niva Ta’auso, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Sherwin Stowers, 10 Baden Kerr, 9 August Pulu, 8 Fritz Lee, 7 DJ Forbes, 6 Adam Cathcart, 5 Jamie Chipman (captain), 4 Ronald Raaymakers, 3 Matt Talaese, 2 Mark Price, 1 Peter Hale.
Replacements: 16 Grant Henson, 17 Maka Tatafu, 18 Chris McLaren, 19 Mark Selwyn, 20 David Bason, 21 James Semple, 22 Reynold Lee-Lo, 23 Ihipa Thompson.

Northland: 15 Jared Payne (captain), 14 Simon Munro, 13 Warren Dunn, 12 Derek Carpenter, 11 Bryce Heem, 10 Lachie Munro, 9 Rhyan Caine, 8 Cameron Eyre, 7 Danny Mason, 6 Dan Faleafa, 5 Mark Burman, 4 Bryce Williams, 3 Matt Wallis, 2 Tim Dow, 1 Justin Davies.
Replacements: 16 Tevita Vaipulu, 17 Ross Wright, 18 Matt Harrison, 19 Andrew Ritchie, 20 Wayne Ngaluafe, 21 Ash Moeke, 22 Jack McPhee, 23 Aterea Davis.

Referee: Ben Skeen

Otago 16-29 Canterbury:

The scorers:

For Otago:
Try: Smith
Con: Dickson
Pens: Dickson 3

For Canterbury:
Tries: Bleyendaal, Fruean, Taylor
Con: Bleyendaal
Pens: Bleyendaal 4

Teams:

Otago: 15 Glenn Dickson, 14 Ben R Smith, 13 Ben Atiga, 12 Sam Giddens, 11 Buxton Popoali’i, 10 Tony Brown, 9 Sean Romans, 8 Gareth Evans, 7 Regan Tamihere, 6 TJ Ioane, 5 Tom Donnelly (captain), 4 Daniel Ramsay, 3 Kees Meeuws, 2 Liam Coltman, 1 Scott Manson.
Replacements: 16 Jason MacDonald, 17 Pieter van der Merwe, 18 Rob Verbakel, 19 Paul Grant, 20 Johnny Legg, 21 Hayden Parker, 22 Joe Hill, 23 Brett Anderson.

Canterbury: 15 Tom Taylor, 14 Johnny McNicholl, 13 Robbie Fruean, 12 Ryan Crotty, 11 Patrick Osborne, 10 Tyler Bleyendaal, 9 Willi Heinz, 8 Nasi Manu, 7 Matt Todd, 6 George Whitelock (captain), 5 Ash Parker, 4 Luke Romano, 3 Nepo Laulala, 2 Ben Funnell, 1 Wyatt Crockett.
Replacements: 16 Paul Ngauamo, 17 Joe Moody, 18 Joel Everson, 19 Brendon O’Connor, 20 Takerei Norton, 21 Telusa Veainu, 22 Rhys Llewellyn, 23 Andrew Olorenshaw.

Referee: Garratt Williamson