Canterbury vs Taranaki Bulls NPC preview: Lineups and predictions

Home team	Canterbury
Away team	Taranaki Bulls
Venue	One NZ Stadium
Competition	NPC semi-final
Kick-off time	3:35 am (UK) 3:35 pm (NZ)
Watch Live in the UK	NPC YouTube Channel

Canterbury vs Taranaki Bulls in the NPC semi-final at One NZ Stadium. The winner of this match will take on Northland, and if Canterbury win, it will be back at the One NZ Stadium; if Taranaki win, the final will be in Northland.

Canterbury were the regular season league leaders, while Taranaki finished fifth and were the lowest-ranked team to make it to the semi-finals.

Canterbury vs Taranaki Bulls confirmed lineups

Canterbury		Taranaki
Forwards
Brewis	1		Proffit
McAlister	2		Slater
Calder	3		O’Neill
Cahill	4		Parete
Darry	5		F Sa
Treacy	6		Namosimalua
Kellow	7		Loft
Gardiner	8		Boshier
Backs
Chapman	9		Lennox
Knewstubb	10		Clarke
Macdonald	11		Naholo
Rova	12		Tamanivalu
McLeod	13		Grindlay
Hutchinson	14		Tikoisolomone
McNicholl	15		Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens
Replacements
Letiu	16		Pokai
Ponini	17		Lawrence
Brown	18		Watson
Fale	19		J Sa
Barnes	20		Poliko
Belworthy	21		Crowley
Robertson	22		Viljoen
Cameron	23		Wiseman

Recent Form:

Canterbury (Home team):

Result	Date	Competition	Opponent	Score
Won	11th October 2026	NPC Playoffs	Waikato	62-26
Won	3rd October 2026	NPC	Manawatu	12-22
Won	26th September 2026	NPC	Southland	34-21
Won	20th September 2026	NPC	North Harbour	24-25
Won	12th September 2026	NPC	Wellington	66-19

Canterbury booked their place in the semi-final with a fantastic 62-26 win over Waikato. They scored a huge 10 tries, while conceding four. The tries flew in fast in the first half, scoring seven in the first half and taking a 43-7 lead into the break. Waikato did score three in the second half, but Canterbury also scored three to win the match by 36 points.

Taranaki Bulls (Away team):

Result	Date	Competition	Opponent	Score
Won	10th October 2026	NPC Playoffs	North Harbour	31-50
Won	4th October 2026	NPC	Wellington	68-26
Won	27th September 2026	NPC	Hawke’s Bay	14-50
Won	20th September 2026	NPC	Southland	55-19
Loss	10th September 2026	NPC	Manawatu	27-25

Taranaki picked up their fourth win in a row to book a place in the semi-final and were the only away side to win their corner. Their 19-point victory wasn’t always so clear and a try deep into added time in the first half saw them take 1 17-14 lead into the second half. Taranaki would go on to score 33 points in just over 20 minutes and take a 50-14 lead, and despite North Harbour scoring three more tries, the margun was too big.

Canterbury vs Taranaki Bulls head-to-head record (last five matches):

Date	Competition	Winner	Score
29th August 2026	NPC	Taranaki	40-25
5th October 2025	NPC	Canterbury	34-14
13th October 2023	NPC Playoffs	Taranaki	23-16
2nd September 2023	NPC	Canterbury	29-28
20th August 2022	NPC	Taranaki	16-10

The home team has won the last five matches, with the last two being won by 14 to 20 points. The four games before that had been decided by seven points or less.