Mount Maunganui Sports and Whakarewarewa produced 80 minutes of rugby at Blake Park on Saturday that would be worthy of any grand final setting.
The undefeated Mount Maunganui side came back from trailing 21-13 with 10 minutes to play to snatch a thrilling 24-21 victory well into injury time in captain Chris Elvin's 200th match for the team.
The skill level and intensity was a step up from the preceding three rounds as some of the Bay's best players locked horns in a pulsating game played in front of Steamers head coach Clayton McMillan.
The hero for the green and golds was first five Ngatai Kingi, making his first start of the season with regular pivot Pera Gibbs recovering from a head knock. Kingi kicked two late penalty goals under pressure to snatch the win, with the decisive goal a beauty from near the touchline 30m out.
Kingi is well regarded in Bay of Plenty rugby circles as one of the talented crop of young 10s coming through the development system and prior to this season played his rugby for Rangiuru.
As his winning kick sailed through the posts followed by the final blast on the whistle from excellent referee Danny Morrison from North Harbour, you had to feel sorry for Whakarewarewa, who contributed so much to the match.
They outscored Mount Maunganui three tries to two, with Steamers star Te Rangi Fraser scoring two of them and kicking three difficult conversions.
But the difference between the sides was Kingi's conversion of all four penalty attempts at goal, while Mount Maunganui did not concede a penalty within kicking range.
Pere Paul, Whakarewarewa co-coach, had no qualms in highlighting the issue.
"The key things in the loss was a lack of discipline. We wanted to build phases and we did that, especially in the second part of the first half and through the second half. It is disappointing to come away with nothing from the game but it came down to discipline in the end and trusting in our systems. We were unlucky to come away with a loss."
However, he was happy with the side's set pieces.
"We have a pack that is certainly going to match it at this level and we have a Rolls-Royce backline that can go with it too. But it is about putting it together and playing a pattern that we can start building upon and going forward.
"We don't want to take away the flair from the boys but we do want to make sure there is some constructive work done and we are building our phases."
It's been a slow start to the Baywide season for Whaka.
"We are where we want to be right now. It is just the little stuff out there. Turning over 50:50 ball when it's not needed, carrying into the tackle when we have the numbers around it. But at the end of the day we are not trying to win the first round, that's not the idea. We want to make sure we have a team going forward through the second round and that's our goal. I'm pretty happy and I know my coaching mate [Kopae Irihei] is the same."
Mount Maunganui coach Rodney Voullaire was thrilled by the way Kingi stepped up when needed.
"We have all known around the Bay that Ngatai Kingi has got what it takes. He is enjoying it and got some good front-foot ball to play with.
"Whaka are a big strong pack. They are good and I give credit to them. They like running with the ball and offloads. The thing is we won the game in the last few minutes last week and did it again this week."
Baywide Rugby results:
Premier:
Mount Maunganui 24 (Marnus Hanley, Leigh Hughes tries; Ngatai Kingi 4 pens con) Whakarewarewa 21 (Maake Taulahi, Chauncey Edwardson, Te Rangi Fraser tries, Fraser 3 cons) HT: 10-7
Te Puke Sports 23 Brad Armstrong, Connor Hirini tries; Luke Campbell 3 pen 2 con) Rotoiti 21 (Joe Royal, Lionel Skipworth tries; Logan Henry 3 pen con) HT 17-8
Tauranga Sports 39 (Ralulu Bavou, Jonah Sawailau, Steven Honey, Bryce Crowley, Calum Armstrong tries; John Dodd 3 con 2 pen) Greerton Marist 12 (Dan van der Berg, Richard Deeds tries; Greg Bannister con) HT 5-12
Te Puna 93 (Ben Kirby 3, Jesse Church 2, Pomare Pearson 2, Tana Tuhakaraina 2, Hunter Mokomoko, Wally Mill, Angus McDonald, Kayden Budd, Terrance Hepetema tries; Robert Dunn 5 con, Anaru Bidois 5 con) Paroa 12 HT 45-0
Whakatane Marist 38 Rangataua 36 (Alex Jessop, Kembel Frost, Matt Clutterbuck tries; Joel Little 5 pen 3 con)
Arataki 25 Opotiki 24
Division One: Te Teko 21 Papamoa 17, Poroporo 41 Ruatoki 11, Katikati 17 Judea 15, Rangiuru 30 Kahukura 15, Ngongotaha 24 Marist St Michaels 14, Waikite the bye.
Development: Te Puke 59 Rotoiti 7, Mount Maunganui 57 Whakarewarewa 5, Tauranga Sports 53 Greerton Marist 5, Arataki 52 Opotiki 0, Te Puna 41 Paroa 27, Whakatane Marist 62 Rangataua 12.