Marist St. Pat?s and Norths to meet at Westpac Stadium

Jubilee Cup semi-finals: Marist St. Pat's will have the chance to capture the coveted Swindale Shield-Jubilee Cup double when they meet Northern United under lights at Westpac Stadium in next Saturday's Jubilee Cup final.

The two teams will meet for the first time in the season finale after both won rousing semi-finals played at Evans Bay and Petone on Saturday. Top qualifiers MSP?maintained their second round unbeaten run?in defeating Poneke 19-5, while Norths, the last team to win both Wellington club rugby's Premier trophies in the same year in 2006, ran out 18-5 winners over Petone in the other semi-final.

Both MSP and Norths were made to fight hard for their places in next week's?final, only making sure of their wins late in the second halves of two torrid and frenetic battles played under leaden skies and heavy underfoot conditions.

It took a late try in the corner to replacement winger Julian Tupai and a sideline conversion to points machine Fa'atonu Fili to seal victory for MSP at Evans Bay Park after the home side had held a slender 9-5 lead throughout much of the contest, while Norths fullback Buxton Popoali'i Lit up the Petone Recreation Ground with an exhilarating second half try that also proved to be a match winner.

Popoali'i's try, his second of the match,? was started from a scrum on Norths' 10-metre line and?extended his team's narrow lead from 8-0 to 15-0 in an explosive second half that hung in the balance for long periods.

Norths swung the ball wide from the set-piece to the flying fullback sensation in front of the bumper grandstand crowd, who cut back on his inside and sliced through the defence and pinned his ears back to score unopposed under the posts.

Popoali'i converted his own try from in front as a stunned Petone were left rueing some key unforced errors and a missed opportunity of their own moments earlier.

Their outside backs crucially spilt the ball forward off a well-worked move of an attacking scrum as they looked to have Norths stretched in centre field, while Popoali'i's first try midway through the second half was the result of an overthrown attacking lineout and then a fumble near halfway by right wing Fautua Otto.

The Villagers had been hot on attack inside the 22 after weathering an early Norths storm, but a turnover and then a kick ahead quickly had them scrambling to recover back in their own territory with the Norths chasers bearing down fast. Left wing Daley Harper wrestled back possession off Otto and found Popoali'i in close support.

Popoali'I then extended the lead to 8-0 with a well-struck long-range penalty and both him and Petone's Sam Rasch missed with easy tit-for-tat penalties immediately before halftime.

With Petone turning with the moderate wind at their backs and an epic forward dominated battle fast developing the second half was anyone's game. But unfortunately for the home team's supporters, the unforced errors began to mount up, which proved costly for them as the clock wound down.

Handling and lineout errors and a couple of ill-directed kicks added up for Petone, despite closing the gap to 15-5 when openside flanker Mateaki Kafatolu finished off an exciting passage of play, scoring in the corner off the final pass by replacement centre Lewis Marshall.

Petone held the territorial advantage over the next ten minutes but couldn't break through in the increasingly muddier conditions. Instead Norths finished the game at the other end of the field and went close to scoring a third try amid a late surge inside the 22. Instead they were awarded another penalty and Popoali'I made no mistake from in front to ensure his team a place in next week's final.

Meanwhile, Poneke struck the first blow at Evans Bay when right wing Ben Huntley scored for the red and blacks off a rare Fili error near his goal line, throwing away a wild pass to fullback Jackson Martin and Huntley coming up with the opening try.

But Fili struck back with three first half penalties to give his side the edge at halftime and then after the break former prolific try scorer Tupai scored the try that sent MSP into their second consecutive Jubilee Cup final.

Fili converted from out wide and then potted a dropped goal to top the victory.