The scoring was kicked off through the boot of Canterbury fullback Chay Fihaki, who slotted a penalty from straight in front of the posts in the fifth minute.
The game was played at a frantic pace early, with both sides guilty of giving away possession easily.
After Canterbury captain Tom Christie won a turnover, lock Jamie Hannah picked the ball up from the base of a ruck and strode into open space. With one defender between him and the tryline, Hannah delivered the final pass to wing Ngane Punivai, who had a clear 50m run down the left touchline for the opening try of the game.
Hawke’s Bay coach Brock James would’ve been pulling his hair out when he saw Devon Flanders put in a chip kick from just outside Canterbury’s 22, but the towering No 8 was only centimetres away from scoring a strong contender for the best try of the season after winning the footrace – but he was deemed to have grounded the ball on the dead-ball line.
Canterbury had a try of their own scrubbed out minutes later after a scrambling tackle by Hawke’s Bay wing Neria Fomai saw Punivai put his foot into touch before grounding the ball in the corner.
The home side didn’t have to wait long to cross the line though after towering lock Sam Darry crashed over on the back of a rolling maul and multiple phases. Fihaki converted to take the scoreline out to 15-0.
In a turn of events, Punivai was shown a yellow card in the 21st minute after a deliberate knock-down prevented a Hawke’s Bay line-break on halfway.
The visitors were able to take full advantage of the one-man overlap as slick passing from first five-eighth Lincoln McClutchie and loose forward Miracle Faiʻilagi found the hands of Fomai, who scored in the left corner in the 26th minute.
Fullback Zarn Sullivan produced some more magic for the Magpies when he took on three Canterbury defenders and delivered a deft offload, taking the visitors to within 5m of the tryline. After multiple phases, halfback Folau Fakatava dummied both ways from the base of the ruck before sliding through a small gap for their second try of the night.
McClutchie slotted his second conversion of the night to limit the gap to one point as the sides headed into the sheds at halftime.
In true Canterbury fashion, the home side came out firing in the second half. A break down the left touchline saw Christie go close to scoring before midfielder Dallas McLeod crashed on to a short ball to score in the 52nd minute.
It was déjà vu for Hawke’s Bay as McLeod scored his second try of the night five minutes later in very similar fashion.
The men in red and black put their foot on the throttle as Darry charged down a Fakatava box kick from just outside Hawke’s Bay’s 22, before regathering and offloading – culminating in reserve prop Daniel Lienert-Brown scrambling to the tryline to score in his 50th game.
Down by 22 points with 10 minutes to play, Hawke’s Bay needed to roll the dice, and they were able to score a consolation try through wing Jonah Lowe after an outrageous tip pass by Sullivan.
Christie put the cherry on top of an almost complete second half for Canterbury as he ran in the home side’s fourth try of the second half in the 78th minute, which Fihaki converted to send them through to their first final since 2022.
Canterbury 43 (Ngane Punivai, Sam Darry, Dallas McLeod 2, Daniel Lienert-Brown, Tom Christie tries; Chay Fihaki 5 cons, pen)
Hawke’s Bay 19 (Neria Fomai, Folau Fakatava, Jonah Lowe tries; Lincoln McClutchie 2 cons)
HT: 15-14