Canterbury beat Taranaki in second NPC semi-final
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Canterbury have claimed the second spot in the NPC final and assured themselves home advantage after defeating Taranaki 38-28 in Christchurch.
Canterbury finished top of the table after a late run in the competition with eight wins from 10 games and then thrashed Waikato in the quarterfinal
They will play Northland in the final in Christchurch on Labour Day.
Both sides were boosted with by All Blacks coach Dave Rennie releasing Josh Jacomb and Jamie Hannah early from their duties in Australia so they could play in the semifinal.
They flew back during the Bledisloe Cup test, with Jacomb starting at first-five-eighth for Taranaki and Hannah coming off the bench for Canterbury.
It was even midway through the first half at 7-7, but the Canterbury forwards stepped up another gear in the second quarter, as the team ran in three more tries to go with flanker Corey Kellow's earlier effort to give them a 26-7 lead at halftime. Taranaki never shirked but gave away too many penalties under the Canterbury pressure.
Canterbury went further ahead in the second half when Isaac Hutchinson motored over for a try, but then Taranaki struck back, firstly through Meihana Grindlay, and then through Kaylum Boshier.
Hutchinson eased the pressure on Canterbury a little bit with his second try but then Grindlay's second try set up a tense 13 minutes, but Taranaki just couldn't get another try.
