Southern v Green Island
Bathgate Park, 2.45pm
Previous clash: Green Island 21-13.
Southern: Qualified second (nine wins from 12), beat Zingari-Richmond 41-15 in quarterfinal.
Green Island: Qualified first (10 wins from 12), lost to University 31-25 in quarterfinal.
Team news: Veteran midfielder Paul Tupa’i is out for Southern, but Aron Einarsson returns to the pack. Flanker Amos Roddick is back from concussion for GI, and Highlanders rookie Oliver Haig is on the bench.
John Leslie (Southern)
"You can’t win the championship if you’re not in the semis, so we’re in a good place in regards to being in the top four. I think we’ve got a good mindset and we’ve ironed out a pretty good plan that, we believe, will give us every opportunity to win on Saturday. We’re in pretty good spirits.
"Green Island have been a good team all year and they will be stung by losing last week. We’re expecting them to come at us hard, but that’s our plan on them as well, of course.
"As we know, in the tough games, there’s lot of emphasis on winning the forward battle. But you’ve got to take your opportunities from front-foot ball, and likewise if the opposition gets a roll on, you need your backs to shut them down. I do think it will be a 15 v 15 type of game. GI have got a strong pack and some exciting backs. They’ll be looking to use both, and we’ll be similar.
"Being together and being united in your focus is important. Rallying when you are under the pump. Clear minds. That’s what has helped us out in the last couple of years."
Hayden Finch (GI)
"A few one-percenters and attitude let us down last week. We just didn’t quite have the commitment when it was required in key periods. Apart from that, we were pretty good. We’ve scrapped that game and it’s all about Southern now.
"I think we’re very similar teams. It’s not a bad match-up for us. They’ve got some very big forwards and strong ball-runners, and some threats out wide, like we have. I think we are pretty evenly matched.
"We’re sweating on a couple of players who need to get through practice. But it’s more who to leave out that is keeping me awake. We’ve got some guys who are going to be very unlucky."
Dunedin v Otago University
Kettle Park, 2.45pm
Previous clashes: Dunedin 27-18, Dunedin 26-25.
Dunedin: Qualified third (nine wins from 13), beat Kaikorai 39-20 in quarterfinal.
University: Qualified sixth (six wins from 12), beat Green Island 31-25 in quarterfinal.
Team news: James Bolton moves to lock for Dunedin, and Max Ratcliffe starts at No7. Winger Jeremiah Asi makes a welcome return for University.
Giff Henry (Dunedin)
"We put ourselves under pressure from losing a few games but we were able to learn from them as well. Our big thing is trying to get better every week, especially around our set piece.
"I think we’ve learnt our lesson twice around giving them possession in their own half. An attacking team like Varsity, if you give them multiple opportunities, they’re going to take them. We need to be really tidy in our own half. And we need to start well.
"We made a few little errors against Kaik, and they’re an excellent attack team. But we knew we could wrestle it back."
Russell Lundy (University)
"A couple of things have really helped. We’ve been able to get some consistency around our trainings and around our selections and the way we play. We’ve been able to implement some of the stuff we’ve been talking about.
"We’re a young team. We’re trying to eliminate mistakes from our game. We’ve got to compete at set piece. We’ve got to handle their scrum, which is obviously an area they’re going to target. We were competitive in the scrum against Green Island, as we are most weeks. We’ve got a young crew but they’re just getting better as the season goes on.
"We’ve got to not make those dumb mistakes and just keep going. We’ve been a little guilty of maybe switching off and letting teams back in, or just not finishing games off."
