Facing the Bay of Plenty Secondary School Girls' team after they have lost their first game in two years is a bad idea. Just ask Thames Valley.

Unfortunately for Thames Valley Secondary School Girls, they learnt the lesson the hard way, as the Bay side, hurting from a rare defeat to Counties, unleashed their frustrations with a brutal 96-0 victory.

Photo: File.

Focussed on retaining the Northern Region Championship crown which they had held for two years, Bay coach Jimi McLean says the Counties setback forced his side to try and pile up the points against Thames Valley.

'We had to do a little bit of soul searching after last week's loss to Counties,” admits Jimi.

'A few scenarios presented themselves. Knowing the Waikato and Counties had both beaten teams in the weeks previous, we were hoping it would come down to who beat who.

'We needed to put points on the board and we told the girls that in training. We basically had to take an attack mind-set into the game and put points on the board to try and overcome the deficits that Counties and Waikato had put on Thames Valley.”

His side did that just that, piling on 18 tries and three conversions. Top try scorer was Opotiki College's Leah Wilson, with four, followed by her college team mates Kamryn Harrison (3) and Tynealle Fitzgerald (2).

The other nine were scored by Losaline Ahio, Sapphire Tapsell, Ora Williams, Terina Mohi, Pia Devon, Parekura Whareaorere, Rose Togotogorua, Lily Florence and Shaye Whareaorere.

It was the great work done by the forwards which set up the platform for the win, says Jimi.

'It started up front with our big girls, and the backs just finished off the good work done by the forwards.”

Jimi says it's hard to pick a stand out from a team who piles on 96 points, but there were a couple of girls who did deserve a mention.

'Lily Florence, one of our loose forwards, is always busy,” he says. 'Even defensively, the rare times Thames Valley did get the ball she was the first one up there knocking them over.

'Also Leah Wilson – our halfback – had a great game running from the base of the scrum. It's always hard to pinpoint a player of the day when they are all doing their jobs.”

Despite the emphatic scoreline, it ultimately was too little too late, with Waikato beating Counties on the same weekend to take an unassailable lead and win the Northern Region Championship.

Currently sitting third in the competition, Bay of Plenty travel to Hamilton on Wednesday to take on Waikato, where a win will see them finish second in the table.

The side will then go on to face a cross over finals with the Blues franchise on Saturday.

Although the season is starting to wind down, Jimi says the bulk of his girls will be used to play an Auckland Development Women's team as a curtain raiser to the Bay of Plenty Volcanics when they take on Wellington on October 3, in Whakatane.