Wellington and Bay of Plenty have both had to come back from halftime deficits to lock in their spots for next weekend's NPC final.
The top-of-the-table Lions will host the title game, after holding off Waikato 29-24 in the capital, with prop Mason Tupaea scoring a late try for the visitors to set a nailbiting final five minutes.
Wellington halfback Kyle Preston grabbed a try double — one in each half — but the Mooloos seized momentum just before the break, when second-five Riley Higgins was yellow-carded for offside on his own goal-line, with Waikato players unmarked outside him.
The resulting penalty try gave them a 17-15 advantage, but two unanswered converted tries to Preston and hooker Penieli Poasa provided Wellington with the winning edge to hold off the late Waikato rally.
"Talk about test match footy," reflected Wellington captain Du'Plessis Kirifi. "It's not often you get that kind of level, that physicality, that intensity at provincial rugby.
"Results aside, what an absolute pleasure to play in a game like that against a team like Waikato.
"Both teams are going to get lucky, both teams are going to get calls from the ref. We just felt like we put ourselves in a couple of tough positions there, so the focus for us in the second half was to just nail those couple of moments.
"We built some pressure and we got points."
Earlier, Bay of Plenty trailled Canterbury 13-8 at halftime, but held their opponents scoreless for most of the final 40 minutes, while piling on 24 points to run away 32-20 with the first semi at Tauranga.
Second-five Uilisi Halaholo, winger Leroy Carter and loose forward Semisi Paea all crossed after the break for the Steamers, with first-five Kaleb Trask turning around his wayward kicking form in the first half to convert all three tries and slot a penalty.
Bay of Plenty needed a last-gasp try to pip Hawke's Bay in the quarterfinals, but put this contest out of reach with time to spare.
"A huge relief," said Bay captain Kurt Eklund. "The last few weeks have been pretty close, but these boys want it so bad and to put a performance like that on a good Canterbury side was pretty awesome.
"At halftime, we knew we had it in us. We were just hanging in there for the first half, but we knew our gears a bit, we could pull through."
Wellington 29 (Preston 2, Lauaki, Poasa tries; Harkin penalty & 3 conversions) Waikato 24 (Mathis & M Tupaea tries; penalty try; Cruden penalty & 2 conversions)
Bay of Plenty 32 (Johnston, Halaholo, Carter & Paea tries; Trask 2 penalties & 3 conversions) Canterbury 20 (McAlister & Rova tries; Hutchinson conversion & 2 penalties, Fihaki conversion)
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