Steamers fall to Otago in last regular season match

Steamers player Culum Retallickscores against Otago during the ITM cup match in Dunedin Photo/Otago Daily Times

The Bay of Plenty Steamers have suffered back-to-back losses ahead of the playoffs in the ITM Cup Championship.

The Steamers will take on Hawke's Bay next weekend during the semifinals, after finishing fourth on the ladder.

The Steamers couldn't post a win during their final game of the regular season today losing to Otago 43-30 in Dunedin.

The match at Forsyth Barr Stadium was a dead-rubber as both teams were already guaranteed to finish third and fourth respectively on the ITM Cup Championship standings.

Both sides rested players during the fixture today but still turned on an entertaining match.

Bay coach Clayton McMillan would have been hoping for a win ahead of the semifinals but knows their big test will be held in Napier next weekend.

Otago got the first try inside five minutes today through Naulia Dawai, who showed plenty of strength to get over the line following a nice offload. Both teams traded penalties during the next 20 minutes as the Steamers edged ahead 9-8.

The flood gates opened towards the back end of the first half as both teams crossed for tries.

Otago scored a scintillating try on 29 minutes, which started with a delicate kick down the left before Matt Faddes finished off a few plays later down the right side.

The home team were in again when another nice kick resulted in Tony Ensor winning a foot race to the ball. Ensor somehow managed to keep himself and the ball in play as he grounded in the corner.

There was some concerns over the grounding but the TMO awarded the try.

Steamers captain Culum Retallick got his side back into the contest shortly before the break when he picked the ball up close to the line and charged over.

The Steamers were made to defend their line in the dieing seconds of the half as Otago launched one last charge before the break.

Bay of Plenty's Johan Bardoul was shown a yellow card for slowing down the play and Otago ended up scoring, following another controversial decision from the TMO. Otago's Liam Coltman was awarded the try despite looking to be held up over the tryline.

Otago went into the break 29-16 up and things got even better for the home side early in the second period.

In-form centre Faddes scooped up the ball near his own tryline and took off down field, out runnnig Dan Hollinshead to score under the posts.

Otago substitute Fletcher Smith added his team's sixth try shortly after, as his team shot out to a big lead.The Steamers put some respectability back into the scoreline during the remainder of the half, first through captain Retallick who scored his second, then Nick
Evemy charged down a kick and scooted away to score.

pf?en Otago 43 (Matt Faddes 2, Naulia Dawai, Tony Ensor, Liam Coltman, Fletcher Smith tries; Peter Breen 4 con, pen, Fletcher Smith con) Bay of Plenty 30 (Culum Retallick 2, Nick Evemy try; Dan Hollinshead con, 3 pen, Nick Evemy 2 con) HT 29-16.