Canterbury will play Hawke's Bay in an Air New Zealand Cup semi-final at AMI Stadium, Christchurch, on Saturday night.

Canterbury progressed from their quarter-final against Tasman at AMI Stadium on Friday night with a comfortable 48-10 victory, while Hawke's Bay had to withstand a desperate fightback from Waikato to win 31-28 at McLean Park yesterday.

Saturday night's victors will play the winners of the weekend's first semi-final between Wellington and Southland on Friday night.

The Red and Blacks beat Hawke's Bay 31-7 in a round-robin match at AMI Stadium on September 27, however coach Rob Penney will impress on his players the need to take their semi-final challenge very seriously.

"Hawke's Bay are a tough unit with attacking threats all over the park," he said. "They can play a variety of styles and their forwards are very robust too."

Penney and assistant coach John Haggart were pleased with their team's performance against Tasman, with Canterbury scoring seven tries and looking ruthless on attack and defence.

Backs James Paterson, Paul Williams, Scott Hamilton, Casey Laulala and Tim Bateman are dangerous from anywhere and first five Colin Slade had one of his best games for Canterbury on Friday night. He kicked five goals from six attempts and scored a try for a points haul of 16 points on his 21st birthday.

The forwards again impressed in the set pieces and kick-offs so it seems the team is peaking at just the right time.