Semifinal hopes are hanging by a thread for the Bay of Plenty Steamers after their fifth Mitre 10 Cup loss on the bounce last night in Rotorua.

A late rally as a yellow card reduced the visiting Manawatu side to 14 men gave them the chance of stealing the win, and had Kaleb Trask been able to send his optimistic last ditch penalty attempt another five metres they would have, but time ran out with them still 17-15 down and they had another dispiriting defeat on their hands.

The Steamers will be wondering how that one got away from them as they did more than enough hard work to win the match comfortably, but once again the problem of throwing away promising positions with handling errors and penalties cost them dear.

Manawatu were forced to doing a lot of defending, but on the rare occasions they got the opportunity to attack they grabbed them with greater pace and penetration.

The result was just two first half tries, including one inside the first minute, but as it turned out they, along with a second half penalty, were enough.

For all their dominance, including a clear edge in the scrums, the Steamers weren't able to cross the line until the second half was 27 minutes old. Replacement lock Aaron Carroll barrelled his way over for their first try, and then Luke Campbell, on as a midfield back substitute, set up a tense finish with the second from the team's best passing movement of the match with two minutes remaining.

Kaleb Trask, doing the kicking job after first five Jason Robertson went off injured in the first half, hit the post with the first conversion attempt but nailed the second with a hurried drop kick.

Then came his chance to win the game with the last minute penalty attempt, which fell agonisingly short.

In hindsight they may regret the decision to hand the ball to him to go for the posts, which always looked a bit optimistic from the halfway line. Kicking for the corner and setting up a lineout drive may have been the better option.

The Steamers leave Rotorua with just a single bonus point, taking them to 10 on the Championship division table. They remain in fifth place, five points behind Otago, whom they play in Dunedin on Wednesday night.