Matatū pip Blues to make final

Matatū pipped the Blues for the second time this Super Rugby Aupiki season to set up a final with either Chiefs Manawa or Hurricanes Poua in Hamilton on Saturday.

Chey Robins-Reti scored a hat-trick for the South Islanders, with her first two tries coming in the final 10 minutes of the first half and her third giving her side the lead for the final time with less than 10 minutes to go.

These two teams were only separated by two points when Matatū won in Dunedin in round one and the margin was only three points this time around at North Harbour Stadium in Auckland, as Matatū won 26-23.

The Blues were able to eke out an early advantage as Krysten Cottrell slotted a pair of penalties, but it was Matatū who scored the first five-pointer.

Second five-eighth Amy du Plessis played a short pass to Kendra Reynolds and there was no stopping the flanker as she charged to the line from 20m out.

The Blues hit back through wing Katelyn Vahaakolo down their right and were on top for most of the first half, before Matatū struck a pair of crucial blows just before the break.

Right wing Robins-Reti scored twice in the space of seven minutes down the right to put her side up 19-11 at halftime, with Renee Holmes hitting the post with her first sideline conversion, then making the second from slightly closer in.

Robins-Reti thought she had a hattrick six minutes into the second half, but replays showed she had just lost contact with the ball as she tried to ground it.

The Blues had spent the opening stages of the period defending their line but used the let-off to break out and strung together 16 phases before Patricia