Rugby: Ranfurly Shield heroes back Steamers ahead of historic NPC semifinal

Steamers captain Kurt Eklund (left) and Brian Kelly, who emceed the screening event, looking at the Bay of Plenty Times paper from 2004 when the Ranfurly Shield was first won by the Steamers. Photo / Courtney Church

The Bay of Plenty Steamers are poised to make history – and one of the team’s greats believes they have what it takes to win.

On Saturday at Tauranga Domain, the Steamers, taking on Canterbury, will play their first NPC home semifinal in the history of the competition’s top tier..

It comes nearly 50 years after Bay of Plenty won the inaugural National Provincial Championship in 1976, and 20 years after the Bay’s only Ranfurly Shield win, in 2004.

The team won the second-tier championship competition grand final in Rotorua in 2019.

That Shield triumph has been commemorated in a fan-made documentary, Up for the Challenge – The Reunion – a sequel to 2004′s Up for the Challenge.

On Tuesday, players from the iconic 2004 team reunited and met with those of the 2024 team for a special preview screening.

They were joined by long-time members and supporters of the 133-year-old Bay of Plenty Union for the event, hosted by Bayleys.

Mark “Sos” Sorenson played for the Steamers from 2002 to 2006, appeared in the 2004 Ranfurly Shield game and was a driving force behind the reunion documentary.

He said it was super emotional looking back as a fan of the current team, and the past success of the Steamers was more relevant than ever ahead of the NPC semifinal.

Mark Sorenson played for Bay of Plenty from 2002 to 2006 and was one of the main driving forces behind the new reunion documentary. Photo / Courtney Church.

“Hopefully the players that were able to attend [the screening] and those coaching staff take a bit out of this and see the relevance of trying to make history.

“When you make history, it doesn’t matter how old you get, it doesn’t get old and you can’t let those memories die.”

With a lot of excitement around the upcoming semi, Sorenson believes the Steamers are good enough to win the NPC.

“There’s courage in the back-up, I think there’s enough leadership up front and enough confidence throughout the team that absolutely they can get the win.

“What the team is doing out on the field is unbelievable and they’re making their own history now, which is pretty special.”

Kurt Eklund, captain of the 2024 Steamers, said he felt inspired after watching Up for the Challenge – The Reunion and, looking ahead to the NPC semifinal, said he was ready to get out there and just play rugby.

“I want to do something great, be awesome and win the competition, I think that’s everybody’s goal.

2024 Steamers: Captain Kurt Eklund, lock Naitoa Ah Kuoi and first five Kaleb Trask. Photo / Courtney Church

“We’ve got a good team, we’re gelling and everyone’s having fun. I feel like when you’re having fun everything sort of falls into place a little bit.

“The season’s been good so far, we got off to a really good start and the boys are loving being back in the Bay.”

Eklund said that if they could get a massive crowd down at Tauranga Domain again this weekend, like there was for the quarter-final win against Hawke’s Bay last weekend, it would be awesome.

“I know the boys love it, they love seeing the stands full and it gives us a bit of motivation.”

Steamers lock Naitoa Ah Kuoi said the team were looking good and had been lucky this season in terms of injuries.

“I think I’ve been in a few playoffs and have come second-best, third-best, fourth-best, whatever it is, you just have to be the best team.

“The last time we played Canterbury was two years ago in the semifinal. So the stars are just aligning and hopefully, things can pan out our way.”

The home-game advantage was massive for Ah Kuoi and he said it was something special with it being the first NPC top-tier semifinal in the Bay of Plenty in the club’s history.

“Being in front of our crowd at the Domain at 4 o’clock on Saturday with the sun on our backs, this is what we’ve always talked about, there’s no better feeling.”

Kelsen Butler, a long-time Steamers supporter, produced the original Up for the Challenge documentary 20 years ago and executive-produced the reunion documentary.

A proud Steamers supporter since 1976, Kelsen Butler executive-produced the reunion documentary 20 years on from his original Up for the Challenge special. Photo / Courtney Church.

He said the Bay had always seemed to be unfancied and viewed as the underdogs, which is always a nice place to be, especially heading into the semifinal.

“When you win those big games as an underdog, it’s a great celebration.

“You can see the fans turning up at the domain and they’ve got some real momentum behind them heading into a home semifinal this weekend.

“Who knows, maybe there’s a documentary to be made on this team.”

The details

Bay of Plenty will host Canterbury at Tauranga Domain this Saturday, October 19.

• 10am – Ticket booth opens
• 2pm – Gates open
• 3pm – Hospitality opens
• 4.10pm – Steamers v Canterbury kickoff
• 4.50pm – Halftime entertainment
• See boprugby.co.nz for ticket and event details.

Kaitlyn Morrell is a multimedia journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. She has lived in the region for several years and studied journalism at Massey University.