Canterbury's new perfect ten?

Canterbury appear to have unearthed yet another talented fly-half in the shape of Colin Slade.

Canterbury appear to have unearthed yet another talented fly-half in the shape of Colin Slade.

Slade, who turned 21 just over a week ago, is the latest in a long line of number 10s – including New Zealand greats Andrew Mehrtens and Dan Carter – to have come off the Canterbury production line.

Slade, who has played for the New Zealand Under-21 and Under-19 sides, has been a key figure for the red and blacks this season in the absence of the injured Stephen Brett and produced another impressive all-round display against Hawke's Bay in the Air New Zealand Cup semi-final in Christchurch on Saturday.

He scored one try, kicked four conversions and a penalty, but it was his ability to attack the line and excellent work in defence, when he prevented huge Magpies lock Bryn Evans from grounding the ball for a try, that stood out.

“He's been great for us all year and he demonstrated [on Saturday] that he's a multi-faceted first-five [fly-half],” Canterbury coach Rob Penney told the Sunday Star-Times.

“He can do the whole gambit. He kicked extremely well in general play and for goal, his running game was superb and he really challenged that inside channel.

“Often you don't see the defensive commitment that someone like Sladey does do and it was highlighted at the end when he saved that try. He's got a massive future.”

Penney has some injury concerns heading into Saturday's final against Wellington.

Scrum-half Andy Ellis was forced from the field shortly before half-time with a knee injury, while James Paterson barely lasted a minute before he suffered a nasty-looking knee injury in the tackle of Hawke's Bay full-back Israel Dagg and had to be helped from the pitch.

“It was a pretty bruising encounter,” Penney said.

“Hawke's Bay demonstrated that they were very worthy semi-finalists and played their hearts out.”

While Canterbury left it late to secure their 31-21 win, Wellington did not have everything their own way either against a resilient Southland team.

They needed tries from Hosea Gear – his second of the match – and Conrad Smith late in the second half to seal their 28-19 win.

As in previous weeks, Wellington were rattled into making mistakes, turning over ball or giving up free-kicks and penalties at crucial times, which Southland took full advantage of to lead 14-11 with just over 20 minutes to go.

“The positive thing for us was that they [his players] gathered themselves and they did come back and score a couple of tries to win it and that's what I'm proud of,” Wellington coach Jamie Joseph said.