Steamers thump the Turbos

Bay of Plenty: Shine in the wet

Bay of Plenty resurrected their ITM Cup season with a compressive 41-13 win over Manawatu in Mount Maunganui on Thursday.

Coming off a heavy loss to Canterbury, the home side ran in six tries past a Manawatu side still hangover from last week's shock win over Wellington.

In difficult conditions at a wet and windy Baypark Stadium, the visitors failed to adapt to the surrounds as the home side, who put in a dominant forwards display to register their third win from six outings.

The bonus-point victory also edges Bay of Plenty closer to a place in the top seven, that will contest the top echelon of the ITM Cup next season.

Props do not get tries very often, so it came as a surprise when Steamers' tighthead Tristan Moran claimed a brace to help his team to a 20-6 half-time lead, which was never threatened.

In his first season for the province, Moran burrowed over from close-range in the 27th minute after Bay of Plenty had retained possession through thirteen phases, and four minutes later he was in again.

Steamers' pivot Mike Delany, who landed a 53m penalty early in the match, set up the third try of the match with a well weighted kick which centre Corey Aporo scooped up and dived over before the interval.

Bay of Plenty picked up where they left off after the break, with wing Lelia Masaga securing the bonus point try for his team with a piece of individual brilliance when he found himself cramped for space only to hustle his way past four tacklers.

The driving play of the forwards again led to their fifth try, this one to lock Culum Retallick, as Bay of Plenty threatened to embarrass the visitors.

But Manawatu at least managed a consolation try seven minutes from full-time when replacement number eight Bertus Mulder scored to cap a rare period a pressure from the Turbos.

Bay of Plenty had the the last laugh though, when centre Grant McQuoid crossed for the final try after replacement Ben Smith stepped through a hole and neatly delayed his pass to McQuoid.

The scorers:

For Bay of Plenty:
Tries: Moran 2, Aporo, Masaga, Retallick, McQuoid
Cons: Delany 2, Bourke
Pen: Delany

For Manawatu:
Try: Mulder
Con: Clare
Pens: Thompson 2

Bay of Plenty: 15 Toby Arnold, 14 Lelia Masaga, 13 Corey Aporo, 12 Grant McQuoid, 11 Jason Hona, 10 Mike Delany, 9 ChadTuoro, 8 Colin Bourke (c), 7 Sam Cane, 6 Tanerau Latimer, 5 Culum Retallick, 4 Aiden Kuka, 3 Tristan Moran, 2 Daniel Perrin, 1 Joe Savage.
Replacements: 16 Simon Chisholm, 17 James McGougan, 18 Josh Hohneck, 19 Luke Katene, 20 Phil Burleigh, 21 Daniel Waenga, 22 Ben W Smith.

Manawatu: 15 Craig Clare, 14 Shannon Paku, 13 Hadleigh Parkes, 12 Frank Bryant (c), 11 Lote Raikabula, 10 Isaac Thompson, 9 Aaron Smith,8 Mitchell Crosswell, 7 James Oliver, 6 Hamish Gosling, 5 Reece Robinson, 4 Michael Fitzgerald, 3 Karl Haitana, 2 Sean O'Connor, 1 Shane Kingsland.
Replacements: 16 Rob Foreman, 17 Donal McNamara, 18 Fraser Stone, 19 Doug Tietjens/Bertus Mulder, 20 Karl Bryson, 21 Asaeli Tikoirotuma, 22 Casey Stone.

Referee: Garratt Williamson