It means Matatū — who had already booked their spot in the final — will hop on a plane to Auckland to play the Blues for the title this weekend.
While they might have not have come out on the right side of the scoreboard, Matatū still played some entertaining rugby.
They moved the ball, scored some great tries and held strong for the most part defensively.
Just that opening 20 minutes of the second half hurt them and will be something to tighten if they want to win the competition.
Matatū showed early intent when captain Alana Bremner was held up over the line in the opening two minutes. But it was Manawa who opened things.
They recycled nicely from a line out in the 22m and prop Kate Henwood made a couple of robust carries to help the seas open for No 8 Mia Anderson to score.
Matatū found themselves down to 14, when centre Amy du Plessis was sent to the bin for slapping the ball when Manawa were on the move.
That could have been costly, considering the impact du Plessis has had this season, but Matatū turned it in their fortune.
First five Hannah Kick put in a lovely cross field kick to find winger Winnie Palamo in their 22m.
She took it to ground, the ball was recycled and No 8 Kaipo Olsen-Baker rolled up her sleeves to crash over.
Manawa lock Chyna Hohepa was sent to the bin, but the visitors weathered the storm.
Matatū’s defence was impressive and withstood the threat.
Tui was back in the action soon after — and made it count. Center Mererangi Paul stepped through a couple of defenders, threw a skip ball out to Tui to finish on the edge.
King kicked a penalty and Matatū trailed 14-10 at halftime.
Matatū came out of the break fired up and won a penalty from the outset.
Maia Joseph took a quick tap and Olsen-Baker shimmied her way through the defence, before Tui eventually brought her down.
She popped the ball off the deck to fullback Kaea Nepia and moved inside the 5m.
It looked to be something electric before Henwood put in a crushing shot on du Plessis to turn it over.
Manawa prop Veisinia Mahutariki-Fakalelu scored and loose forward Grace Kukutai showed her footwork to weave through and finish.
Suddenly, Manawa were leading 28-10 in just the 50th minute.
Matatū hit back through Palamo, who has been lethal from anywhere, who showed a dummy to slip through.
Holly-Rate Mete scored in the dying minutes as well to close the gap.
The Blues punished the Hurricanes Poua 49-26, with the Wellington side failing to win a game this season.
Super Rugby Aupiki
The scores
Chiefs Manawa 28
Mia Anderson, Ruby Tui, Veisinia Mahutariki-Fakalelu, Grace Kukutai tries; Renee Holmes 4 con
Matatū 22
Kaipo Olsen-Baker, Winnie Palamo, Holly-Rae Mete tries; Hannah King con, Kaea Nepia con, King pen.
Halftime: Manawa 14-10.
