Rugby: Northland survive by skin of their teeth

Dan Pryor celebrates with the Northland side after an early season win. That win, and a bit of help from Hawke's Bay, has secured them a Mitre 10 Cup Championship semi-final spot. Photo / Getty Images

It took until the final match of the Mitre 10 Cup regular season but Northland have secured a semi-final berth following a tense Hawke's Bay upset victory.

Hawke's Bay took out a dramatic Mitre 10 Cup Championship battle with Manawatu 36-31 to deny them a spot in the playoffs, giving Northland the place.

The Taniwha faithful were biting their fingernails over the last three days of matches following their 36-18 loss to Wellington on Thursday.

They needed one of either Bay of Plenty, Otago and Manawatu to lose in order to cement their spot.

Bay of Plenty seemed the more likely to lose out of the three given their match was against Premiership side Waikato but an inspired performance gave them a 36-32 win and a spot in the Championship semi-finals while simultaneously consigning Waikato to relegation.

Otago were a chance of slipping also when they lined up against Southland in a derby fixture. However Southland remained true to the form that saw them go winless in 2017, losing the match 43-19.

So it all came down to Hawke's Bay. Northland needed the upset victory to go in their favour but after routing them 34-7 the week before it didn't look all too likely.

And when Manawatu led the Magpies 17-0 at the break, all hopes of a finals berth nearly went out the window.

However Hawke's Bay weren't done, not by a long shot.

A late first half brawl reduced both sides to 14 men for the last 46 minutes, but that played into Hawke's Bay's hands.

Hawke's Bay rattled off six second half tries as the Super Rugby trio of halfback Brad Weber, first five Ihaia West and second five Richard Buckman came to the fore, handing Northland their first semi-final spot since 2014.

Northland won't have much time to celebrate the berth as their focus now switches to their semi-final battle with Championship leaders Wellington.

There will need to be some big improvements from Northland as they go up against the classy Lions, but they'll be ready for the tussle.