Alhambra-Union has gone a step further than last season.
But if the Crazy Horses are going to win the final game this year, they will need to produce something special.
They edged University 18-12 in a semifinal of the Dunedin women’s premier grade on Saturday, while the Dunedin Wahine Sharks recorded an impressive 58-0 win over Big River Country in the other semifinal.
Defending champions the Sharks have hit some wonderful form just at the right time of the season.
But the Crazy Horses set the benchmark during the round-robin phase and manager Cathy Charles is hopeful it will be their year.
AU trailed 7-3 at the break. The Crazy Horses fell off a few tackles and eventually blindside flanker Anya Schultz got across the line.
"University ran it more than we were expecting, after keeping it nice and tight to begin with," Charles said.
"Then they ended up spinning it wide and caught us off guard."
Black Ferns lock Kelsie Thwaites used her reach to stretch over early in the second spell after a lot of hard work went into getting into a position to score.
University reset the halftime margin with a try out wide.
But the Crazy Horses scored twice in the last 10 minutes, through Thwaites again and Jamie Church, to secure a berth in the final.
Sharks coach Cam Burrow said the Dunedin women were "pretty relieved" to score a massive win over a good Big River Country team.
"We’d lost a few games in the lead-up to that, so it was an awesome performance from the girls."
Otago Spirit first five Sheree Hume made a big difference for the Sharks, and Atawhai Hotene, Lyric Siaki and Te Atawhai Campbell — who scored a hat-trick — were all massive.
The defending champions were thrilled to gain the opportunity to retain their title.
"The girls are pretty fizzed — hope to go back to back."
Women’s semifinals
The scores
Alhambra-Union 18
University 12
Dunedin 58
Big River Country 0
