The Bay of Plenty Steamers are ruing the fact they have let the Ranfurly Shield slip from their grasp after losing to Hawke's Bay 23-17.

Steamers' coach Clayton McMillan told SunLive this morning his team were circumspect about yesterday's game at McLean Park.

'We're happy that we gave it a decent nudge but disappointed because there was a real opportunity to walk away with the shield but we weren't quite clinical enough at the critical moment.”

His team came close to taking the shield in an epic battle which saw his team hard on attack in the final two minutes of play.

Steamers Troy Callandar took the ball from a lineout, 7m from Hawke's Bay's line but in the pursuing maul the home side managed to lock the ball and forced the turnover.

The Steamers put pressure on at the scrum at it looked like they had managed a turnover but in a contentious call, referee Ben O'Keefe penalised the Steamers for being off-side.

It was a strong start by the Steamers with Nick Evemy kicking an early penalty for a 3-0 lead. But Hawke's Bay came close to scoring soon after when winger Ryan Tongia knocked on over the tryline.

But, Ryan made no mistake shortly after, when the Steamers turned over the ball inside their 22, with the flying winger scoring in the corner.

However Steamers flanker Shahn Eru had the Bay back in the lead 10-5, when he charged over from an attacking lineout at the 27 minute mark.

Hawke's Bay were back on the board 10-8 after Steamers flanker was yellow-carded for cynical play during a home side attack. The penalty was easily converted by Ihaia West. He regained the lead 11-10, for Hawke's Bay just before the break with his second penalty.

The second half saw the home side grab the early ascendancy when the scored two quick tries to jump out to a 23-10 lead.

In previous weeks, the Steamers would have folded but this time they fired up, with Winger Elijah Nicholas sparking an all-out offensive which resulted in a Nic Evemy try and conversion to take the score to 23-17.

Clayton said he was pleased with the maturity his side showed throughout the match.

'I'm happy that there is progress. I think we've got a lot of growth still left in us. It will be important moving forward… Most of them have less than 10 games under their belt. We need the majority of the team up in the 20 or 30 bracket.”

The side's next outing is against Northland in Whangarei on September 25, at 7.35pm.