 |
Sports correspondent & historian with |
I have been guilty of not paying due attention to the Bay of Plenty Steamers in the 2023 NPC competition title race.
A hectic top level sporting agenda that included watching televised events such as the Women's Football World Cup, the current Rugby World Cup and the Warriors charge to the NRL playoffs - grabbed my notice with the national provincial rugby championship slipping under the radar.
The lack of coverage from the two Bay of Plenty daily newspapers is an impediment to casual rugby followers keeping up to date with the Steamers performances.
While I had caught the odd Bay of Plenty team encounter on the box, I had little knowledge of where they sat in the race to the playoffs.
Flicking channels last Sunday afternoon, I stumbled on the Steamers matchup with Tasman, at the Tauranga Domain.
Listening to the commentary it became apparent that the last game of the NPC regular season was a vital encounter for the two sides.
Both provincial teams were within striking distance of the top four which carried a bonus home quarter-final to the winner.
The Steamers rolled the dice to play risk and reward rugby and we're rewarded with a 17-0 lead at the break in play. The second spell was a continuation of the first, with the Blue and Gold brigade steaming home to a massive 41-12 victory.
A Stuff website report summed up the game saying "The Tasman Mako hardly fired a shot all afternoon as they were forced to make a massive amount of tackles and play out of their own end".
Being completely unaware where the Steamers sat on the end of the regular season standings, a quick website look, revealed that they had snatched a home quarter-final this Sunday,
Their opponents are the Steamers archrivals, Hawkes Bay, who have been grabbing headlines for all the wrong reasons, since relieving Wellington of the Ranfurly Shield.
The Steamers faithful now have cause to dream of another golden time for Bay of Plenty Rugby.
The two shining beacons in the history of the Bay of Plenty Rugby Union, founded 112 years ago, are the inaugural NPC title and a brief tenure of the Ranfurly Shield.
Bay of Plenty won the first National Provincial Championship in 1976, securing the crown with a 10-7 win, against this weekend's enemy in Hawkes Bay in their last round-robin game.
The Eric Anderson coached troops ended the first-past-the-post title race with eight victories, one draw, and a solitary 9-10 loss the Counties in their first match.
August 2004, saw the Steamers snatch the 'Log of Wood's from Auckland in their nineteenth Ranfurly Shield challenge. There was much jubilation when the team returned home after their 33-28 win over the Aucklanders.
The Shield victory was especially sweet for those Steamers fans who had been at Eden Park eight years previously, when the Steamers led by 18 points with eight minutes to go, only to taste defeat.
Baypark was full to overflowing, when the Bay side repelled the challenge from over the hill from the Mooloo men, before surrendering the New Zealand Rugby coveted prize to Canterbury.
Success against 'The Other Bay' at the Tauranga Domain on Sunday, would put the Steamers just two games away from repeating their NPC title win from 47 years ago.
