Canterbury win another ITM Cup Final, as Hawkes Bay get promoted in thriller

While the World Cup nears a close, New Zealand's provincial domestic competition, the ITM Cup, culminated with two sensational finals at the weekend. There was the Premiership (top tier) final that featured Canterbury and Auckland, then in the Championship (the second tier comp), Hawkes Bay and Wellington battled it out in another classic. Canterbury won their seventh national provincial championship title in eight years with a 25-23 win over Auckland in Christchurch. The homeside scored three tries to two, with Patrick Osborne, Dominic Bird and Ryan Crotty all touching down in the first seve…