It was mixed results for the Auckland teams in this morning’s quarter finals, with the women progressing to semi finals but the men losing late in their match.

After finishing second in their pool, the Auckland women had a tough quarter against a plucky Canterbury side.

Tess Gard’ner opened the scoring for Auckland before Lara Diamond-Brahne threw a no-look offload to put Tash Davie over.

Canterbury struck on half time to reduce the lead to 12-5.

The second half was a real arm wrestle and Auckland was forced to flex their muscles on defence. Theresa Fitzpatrick scored the only points of the second spell to secure the win 17-5.

The women will meet defending champions Manawatu in the semi finals. 

Having finished day one undefeated, the men went into their quarter final brimming with confidence. That showed in opening exchanges, Joe Ravouvou powering over for Auckland’s first points before Sebastian Visinia set up his older brother Lolagi for the second.

Taranaki scored either side of the break to bring the scores level. The men bounced back with Ravouvou and Rocky Khan combining to put Tutu Tairea over for a try. 

Two late tries for Taranaki sealed the result however, 17-22.

The men will now play Northland in the plate semi finals.