Bay of Plenty rugby have won their first ever national under 19 title with a last minute intercept try in an exhilarating Jock Hobbs Memorial tournament final in Taupo.

They've capped off a memorable tournament with a 35-30 victory over Canterbury to take the Graham Mourie Cup.

It was a very different match for the baby Steamers after their earlier 90-0 and 46-12 romps over Hawkes Bay and North Harbour, and the fact they had to overcome serious obstacles presented by Canterbury – notably an utterly dominant scrum – will make the win all the more satisfying.

They also had to show impressive resilience to come from behind against a team showing all the typical Canterbury traits of defensive discipline and forward power.

The mainlanders were on track to take a 13-3 lead into halftime until New Zealand under 20 utility back Kaleb Trask, playing at fullback, added a try four minutes before the break to the penalty he'd already kicked.

Then a halftime rev up from coach Mike Rogers reminding his team of their licence to play with a smile on their face did the trick nicely.

The Bay's free-running game returned to the fore, and tries resulted to flanker Kohan Herbert, Trask again, and first five Cole Forbes, with the team making huge gains from the off-loading of right wing Emoni Narawa.

With four minutes remaining another Trask penalty looked to have given them a degree of comfort at 30-23, but that's just not how this crazy match rolled.

A charge down from a Cole Forbes clearing kick put Canterbury in under the posts, with the simple conversion levelling the scores.

Then, just as extra time loomed, left wing Jayjay Suemai came up with his astute piece of opportunism to steal the pass as Canterbury attempted to run the ball out of their half and stroll 15 metres to the line.

It was a triumph not only for Bay of Plenty rugby, winning the Graham Mourie Cup for the first time, but a personal one as well for Kaleb Trask, picking up the DJ Graham award for player of the tournament.

Bay of Plenty 35 (Kaleb Trask 2, Cole Forbes, Kohan Herbert, Jayjay Suemai tries; Trask 2 con, 2 pen) Canterbury 30 (Finlay Brewis, Cullen Grace, Conor McManus tries; Fergus Burke 3 con, 3 pen) HT: 8-13