Bay of Plenty finish third

Two tries: Phil Burleigh

Bay of Plenty secured third spot in the final ITM Cup standings on Sunday with a 29-17 win over already relegated Southland in Invercargill.

The Steamers outscored their hosts four tries to three and never looked like losing.

Centre Phil Burleigh helped himself to two tries as both teams took a festival approach to a game of little consequence since Southland had already been condemned to the drop while Canterbury and Waikato had already qualified for next weekend's final.

It was end-to-end action in the warm conditions. The visitors led 15-7 at half time thanks to tries from fly-half Chris Noakes and Burleigh, having dominated both in terms of territory and possession.

It was a similar story in the second half as the Steamers sealed victory with two more tries.

The scorers

For Southland :
Tries: Robinson, Hardie, Vaega
Cons: Wilson

For Bay of Plenty:
Tries: Burleigh 2, B.Smith, Cane
Cons: Noakes 3
Pens: Noakes

Southland: 15 Robbie Robinson, 14 Kade Poki, 13 Kendrick Lynn, 12 Cardiff Vaega, 11 Tim Cornforth, 10 James Wilson, 9 Scott Cowan, 8 Elliot Dixon, 7 Tom Chamberlain, 6 John Hardie, 5 Michael Fatialofa, 4 Josh Bekhuis, 3 Nick Barrett, 2 Brayden Mitchell, 1 Jamie Mackintosh (c).
Replacements: 16 Jason Rutledge, 17 Chris King, 18 Ben Nally, 19 Tim Boys, 20 Sonny Rangitohereri/Scott Eade, 21 Tony Koonwaiyou, 22 Marty McKenzie, 23 Michael Peterson.

Bay of Plenty: 15 Toby Arnold, 14 Ben W Smith, 13 Phil Burleigh,12 Jason Hona, 11 Lance MacDonald, 10 Chris Noakes, 9 Josh Hall, 8 Colin Bourke (c), 7 Luke Braid, 6 Tanerau Latimer,5 Culum Retallick, 4 Leon Power, 3 Josh Hohneck,2 Daniel Perrin, 1 Bronson Murray.
Replacements: 16 John Pareanga, 17 Tristan Moran, 18 Luke Andrews, 19 Sam Cane, 20 Lewis Hancock, 21 Daniel Waenga, 22 Nick McCashin, 23 Pingi Tala'apitaga.