Rugby: Manawatu stagger into final

Manawatu's Nathan Tudreu is wrapped up by Southland's Tim Boys. Photo / Getty Images

Manawatu 23
Southland 18

Manawatu will be playing for one of their longest-serving stalwarts when they contest next weekend's ITM Cup Championship final.

Manawatu won the right to host Hawke's Bay in Friday night's decider when the victor will earn promotion to the Premiership. They did it after squeezing past Southland 23-18 in Palmerston North in yesterday's semifinal.

The final will mark hooker Rob Foreman's 100th game for Manawatu, a union he joined from Wairarapa Bush in 2006.

"At the start of the year, we thought we had a pretty special group of players and something good could happen," Manawatu second-five Hamish Northcott said. "So we are glad to get there and hopefully tick off Bob's 100th game with a win next week."

Foreman produced another solid performance during Manawatu's win over Southland with his accurate lineout throwing a feature.

While Foreman led the grunt work, there were others who provided the flash with brilliant individual tries from Nehe Milner-Skudder and captain Callum Gibbins.

Manawatu first-five Otere Black was the difference, with his accurate goal kicking yielding 13 points as he passed the century-mark for the season.

The greasy conditions meant both sides struggled to control the ball for long periods but Manawatu played with greater urgency and commitment as they were spurred on by their home crowd at FMG Stadium.

"That's the big thing we've learned this year," Gibbons said. "You can talk a lot about the technical side of footy but most of it's just getting stuck in and smacking whatever comes your way.

"It wasn't easy. We were committing a lot of errors at the start of the game."

Manawatu led 23-6 mid-way through the second spell but Southland finished with a flourish. In the end, they had left themselves with too much to do.

"We just let a couple of things slip and the game got away," Southland skipper Jamie Mackintosh said. "But we never gave up and that's an attribute that's big in our team."

Manawatu, who won eight from 10 during the regular season, were the form team of the lower division and will carry plenty of confidence into Friday's encounter that will be a repeat of the 2011 Championship final.

Hawke's Bay won 35-30 three years ago, which will add another level of motivation for Manawatu.

That and playing for one of their old heads.

Manawatu 23 (N. Milner-Skudder, C. Gibbins tries; O. Black 3 pens, 2 cons) Southland 18 (E. Dixon, K. Kahukura tries; L. Sopoaga 2 pens, con). Halftime: 13-3.