Traditional rivals Glenmark-Cheviot and Kaiapoi will again meet in the Luisetti Seeds North Canterbury rugby grand final on Saturday. Glenmark-Cheviot will be looking for its seventh title in the last ten years and Kaiapoi its third.

This encounter will be the third occasion on which the two sides have met this season. The first two that bought contrasting fortunes. Glenmark-Cheviot convincingly beat Kaiapoi in the combined country grand final at the Kaiapoi ground. Kaiapoi then travelled to the Glenmark home ground for the North Canterbury round and came away with a draw.

Last Saturday’s semi finals bought some anxious moments for both teams, with Glenmark-Cheviot heading off Oxford 29-22. A result that came on the back of a loss to fifth place Ashley in the final round robin game. Kaiapoi beat the rapidly improving Hurunui unit 29-18.

Glenmark-Cheviot scored early and carried on this momentum to at one time lead 19-3. Oxford duly responded with a converted try. In the fourth quarter Oxford put themselves into a potential winning position and came to within three points of victory.

The home side had the last say scoring a try in the closing minutes to win 29-22.

Scoreboard

Glenmark-Cheviot 29; Jordy Gray 3, Nick Hyde, Nathan Evans tries. A J Morris 2 conversions beat Oxford 22; Richard Taylor, Luke Maisey, Will Riley tries. Archie Prain 2 conversions, penalty.

Referee; Gavin Cate.

Recent form suggested that Hurunui would have approached its semi final a degree of confidence. Although losing 18-29 they threatened the Kaiapoi advantage in the third quarter.

The opening exchanges belonged to Kaiapoi where a well - executed Thomas Gunn try after five minutes gave them a handy platform to launch more attacks.

A Hurunui Logan Topp penalty put them on the scoreboard before Bailey Counihan scored again for Kaiapoi. This was a try that came after a solid build up, one that involved many phases of play.

Kaiapoi went to half time with a 14-6 advantage and scored again through Rueben Tiweka early in the second spell to go out to a 19-6 lead. Thoughts of a Kaiapoi dominated half were extinguished moments later however, when Hurunui hooker Ben Fennell muscled over the line to score.

The final fifteen minutes belonged to Kaiapoi with a period of play that started with a penalty followed when Nathan Cassidy-Richards was muscled over for a try. Going into full time Hurunui scored a bonus try to take them within eleven points.

Scoreboard

Kaiapoi 29; Thomas Gunn, Bailey Counihan, Rueben Tiweka, Nathan Cassidy Richards tries. Isiah Solomon-Ritchie 3 conversions, 1 penalty beat Hurunui 18; Ben Fennell, Digby Heard tries. Logan Topp 2 penalties, 1 conversion.

Referee; Jared Le Gros.