Canterbury vs Auckland Tips - Canterbury set for NPC quarter-final victory

Ralph Staniforth

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Last updated: 05 Oct 2023

Ralph Staniforth 05 Oct 2023

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Canterbury vs Auckland tips for the NPC on Friday (19:05 AEST)
Visitors have lost their last 2 away to Crusaders
Can Canterbury secure a semi-final?

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Canterbury can cover the handicap in npc quarter final (Getty Images)

Canterbury vs Auckland Tips
Head to Head
Canterbury Form
Canterbury Team News
Auckland Form
Auckland Team News

Canterbury vs Auckland Tips

Canterbury are favourites at home despite Auckland beating them earlier this season. That was however at Eden Park so Canterbury will be far more confident this weekend.

Recent history suggests this game is won by the home side so I’m backing Canterbury to cover the -6 handicap.

Canterbury have won their last 2 matches at home against Auckland.
Canterbury have won 2 of their last 3 matches.
Auckland beat Canterbury by 8 points earlier this season.
Auckland have lost 2 of their last 3 matches.

Head to Head

Over the last four games between these sides, the home team has won. Earlier this season Auckland won 37-29 at home.

Canterbury Form

Canterbury finished the regular season in third place, winning six of their 10 matches. That secured them a home quarter-final berth but they are not guaranteed a home semi or final.

Compared to previous seasons, Canterbury have been pretty average this year. Inconsistency has plagued them and while much of that can be put down to missing all international players, the other sides have had the same issue.

After a 29-13 win over Southland a few weeks ago, Canterbury just beat Tasman 30-28 at home. They however came unstuck last week, losing 37-35 to Waikato. That result cost them second place on the table.

Canterbury Team News

With this being a quarter-final, expect a full-strength lineup.

Auckland Form

Auckland finished sixth on the NPC table with six wins and four defeats in the round-robin stage. Strangely enough, it is the exact same record as Canterbury but Auckland struggled to pick up bonus points throughout the season.

In early September Auckland beat Canterbury 37-29 at home in what a fantastic game. Auckland certainly deserved the victory but Canterbury were in it until the very end.

Since that result, Auckland have however lost two of their last three fixtures. Auckland produced a very poor performance at home against Waikato, losing 27-12 before suffering an 18-16 loss to Taranaki away.

Last week Auckland narrowly beat Northland 27-26 to secure a quarter-final place. Had that result gone the other way Auckland may well have found themselves without a game this weekend.