Canterbury and Counties Manukau are set to lock heads for the first time in the Farah Palmer Cup Premiership final after dominant campaigns this season.
Counties, who finished the season in first, will meet second-placed Canterbury at Ecolight Stadium in Pukekohe this Sunday after both sides conquered Auckland and Waikato respectively.
However the Cantabrians, who are still searching for the first title despite four previous appearances in the final, face an uphill battle after losing three key players to NZ Sevens commitments for the match.
Sam Curtis, Rebecca Davidson and Elizabeth Pera will be unavailable to play for the red and black as they head away for commitments with the 'Sevens Sisters'.
Canterbury coach Wayne Love is still confident his squad can fill the gaps.
"We are going out there with a positive frame of mind that we can win it if we just play our style and perform the way we have all season," he told Fairfax.
"We set our goals at the start of the season for the year and that [to win] was something we wanted to do."
Counties enter the game as defending champions after beating Auckland last year, but won't be ready to label themselves as favourites with their only loss so far this season coming to Canterbury back in round four.
Counties lost the game 32-29 in Christchurch on the occasion.
Bay of Plenty and Otago meet in tomorrow's Championship final at 12pm in Mount Maunganui - the winner will take Wellington's spot in the Premiership after Wellington finished bottom of the Premiership table by one point and score difference to Manawatu.
The Premiership final kicks off at 2pm.
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