Tasman have engineered an upset over Hawke's Bay, holding on to beat the NPC rugby Premiership leaders 33-27 in Napier on Saturday.
Andrew Makalio scores for Tasman Photo: Photosport
They'll meet the winner of the Waikato-Canterbury semi-final later tonight.
The Mako led 25-17 at half-time, with tries to hooker Andrew Makalio, sevens veteran Andrew Knewstubb and Fijian winger Timoci Tavatavanawai.
Hawke's Bay were on the back foot early, but clawed back ground when Jonah Lowe, Tom Parsons and Marino Mikaele-Tu'u crossed before the break.
The visitors took the lead at 27-25 with 15 minutes remaining, lock Geoff Cridge's try boosted by the reliable kicking of Lincoln McClutchie.
That lasted less than five minutes, an intercept try to centre Leicester Fainga'anuku and a Mitchell Hunt penalty securing the win for Tasman.
Otago and Manawatu will meet in next weekend's Championship final.
Taranaki recorded their ninth win of the season in downing Southland 25-13 today, while Otago cruised to a 44-16 win over Manawatu last night in Palmerston North.
Vilimoni Koroi of Otago. Photo: © Photosport Ltd 2019 www.Photosport.nz
Otago scored four second-half tries to book their spot in the title decider.
In sodden conditions in Inglewood on Saturday, Tarankai led 16-6 at halftime through tries to Tom Florence and Logan Crowley. Stephen Perofeta missed both conversions, but added five penalties to secure the win.
There's no promotion to the top tier Premiership for the Championship winners this year due to the Covid-19 and lockdown disruptions.
Brazil grid penalty another blow to Hamilton's title hopes
Lewis Hamilton will take a five-place grid penalty for Monday morning's (NZ time) Sao Paulo Grand Prix in another blow to the Briton's hopes of winning a record eighth Formula One world championship this season.
The Mercedes driver is 19 points adrift of Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who is building momentum with four races remaining.
Formula One's governing body confirmed on Friday that Hamilton had taken a new engine, his fifth of the 22-race campaign.
Drivers have three engines to last the season, with any more triggering a penalty of 10 places for the first time the limit is exceeded and then five places for subsequent engines.
Hamilton collected a 10 place grid penalty after taking his fourth engine in Turkey in October and started Friday practice at Interlagos with his fifth.
Red Bull are favourites to win at Interlagos, with Dutch 24-year-old Verstappen chasing his third win in a row and 10th of the season. He won the last pre-pandemic race at the Sao Paulo circuit in 2019.
Verstappen started the Russian Grand Prix in September from the back of the grid, finishing second, due to power unit penalties.
Team boss Christian Horner saw no need for Red Bull, who are only a point behind Mercedes in the constructors' championship, to take any further engine penalties.
-Reuters
Essex chairman resigns over historical racism allegation
Essex County Cricket Club chairman John Faragher has resigned from his role over a historical allegation that he used racist language at a board meeting in 2017, the team said on Friday.
In a statement they added Faragher "strongly denies" the incident but resigned after Thursday's board meeting.
Essex said they would review why the incident was not fully and independently investigated at the time and would consider further steps to be taken.
"This is a proud club with a zero-tolerance policy towards racism and any form of discrimination and, as Essex Cricket's new Chief Executive Officer, I will not hesitate to uphold those principles and drive out any form of discrimination that is uncovered," chief executive John Stephenson said.
"I was made aware of this single allegation on Thursday having joined the club four weeks ago. The board met last night during which Faragher's resignation was unanimously accepted by the board."
Stephenson added that the club were committed to working with the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to eradicate discrimination from the game.
"This is an important first step, but the club must now act further," he said, adding that they would review their internal reporting mechanisms to ensure matters are dealt with "appropriately and immediately".
Faragher's decision comes a day after fellow county side Yorkshire's chief executive Mark Arthur resigned in the latest fallout from the allegations of institutional racism made by their former player Azeem Rafiq.
The club has been suspended from hosting internationals by the ECB after criticism of their failure to act on a report that found Rafiq was a victim of "racial harassment and bullying".
Roger Hutton had resigned as Yorkshire chairman, accusing the club's executives of failing to learn from racism allegations.
-Reuters
South Korean coach hospitalised with Covid
South Korea women's head coach Colin Bell has been hospitalised after testing positive for Covid-19, the sport's national federation, the Korea Football Association (KFA), said on Saturday.
The English coach had tested positive for the novel coronavirus last week after the team returned from the United States where they had played two matches last month, news agency Yonhap reported.
Yonhap said Bell had initially been isolating at home before he was admitted to a hospital in Namyangju.
KFA confirmed the report but said it would not be making a statement.
South Korea are due to host New Zealand's Football Ferns later this month in two friendly matches on November 27 and 30 in Goyang.
-Reuters