Steamers go down to North Harbour

Halfback Luke Campbell carries the ball up for the Steamers in their 32-20 loss to North Harbour. Photo: BOPRU/Getty Images

The spoils in the Bay of Plenty Steamers' Mitre 10 Cup encounter with North Harbour at Albany's QBE Stadium went to the home side in a match which never really got off the ground.

The Steamers, aside from isolated moments, struggled to get their game going. North Harbour weren't much better, but managed to put together longer periods of ascendancy and take the opportunities that came their way more effectively and so ran out with a 32-20 win.

It's the Steamers' third straight loss, but given that it was against a Premiership division team, as was the first against Canterbury, that's not as concerning as it sounds. But they would certainly have been looking to make a bigger impact on the match than they were able to.

They were not helped in that by losing both their talismanic leadership figures - Mike Delany, who scored all his side's points in the first half before subbing off at the break, and Tanerau Latimer who came on to lift the forward effort in the second half but was then forced from the field again with injury a short time later.

But for all that they kept themselves in there, with a try in either half, to Delany in the first and replacement prop James Lay in the second. Both came after they finally got their hands on the ball and managed to put together a series of phases, showing what they were capable of if they could only grab their fair share of possession.

Delany, who'd put his side first on the board with a penalty, forced his way through an almost non-existent gap to score after his side had built a period of pressure in the Harbour half, while Lay owed his try to an inspired offload from fullback Chase Tiatia and his own astute support play.

All this time the home side had scored three tries, but the Steamers' superior kicking game, from Delany and then his replacement Jason Robertson, had kept the scores close.

Just five points separated the teams at 25-20 as they entered the final 10 minutes, and the distinct possibility of a final surge from the Steamers, and a surprise win, remained.

They had to get their hands on the ball though, and the home side, as they had done for most of the match, were not looking in a mood to give it up. Sensing their hard-fought win was in doubt they worked their way to the Steamers' line, and were sniping persistently around the fringes of the ruck.

The Bay defence, which had been their strong point all game, was holding up well, until Harbour decided to try attacking a little wider. They only had to go as far as their influential first five-eight Bryn Gatland who found a gap and got over adjacent to the posts. The kick was a formality, and gave them a 12 point lead which with just five minutes left on the clock the Steamers, despite pushing the home side back on defence, never looked like closing.

The result means they fall to fifth on the Championship division table with nine points, half the tally of Waikato at the top.

They have now at least got all their crossover matches against Premiership teams out of the way, and can concentrate on putting the lessons they've learnt to good use in their remaining must-win matches against fellow Championship division sides.

They next face a massive encounter with Waikato in Rotorua on Friday night, with the Chiefs Country Cup to defend, but will be happy to be back on their ground where they opened their season with a 30-10 hammering of Taranaki.

Bay of Plenty 20 (Mike Delany, James Lay tries; Delany con, 2 pen, Jason Robertson con) North Harbour 32 (James Parsons, Bryn Hall, Tevita Li, Bryn Gatland tries; Gatland 3 con, 2 pen) HT: 13-15


You may also like....

0 comments

Leave a Comment


You must be logged in to make a comment.