League: Bay speed kills Coastline

SBW-STYLE: Bay of Plenty player Luke King gets the ball away despite the attention of a couple of Coastline players. Photo / GEORGE NOVAK 070913GN18BOP

Speed and strong defence saw the Bay of Plenty rugby league team dominate over Coastline districts - winning 38-24 in Tauranga.

A small crowd at Mitchell Park witnessed a controlled Bay of Plenty side that had their opposition chasing the scoreboard until the last minute.

Bay of Plenty coach Doug Unuwai was impressed with his team's ability to unite on the field.

"I'm really happy with our performance, we had a few late pull outs and had to make last minute calls to find players available," Mr Unuwai said.

"But it's great to see the depth in the Bay of Plenty and good to see that players are stepping up."

Mistakes were made early by Coastline when they gave a penalty away in their first set of six which was followed by a stray pass that went wide. Bay of Plenty winger Pesini Tavake showed his speed and set up centre Seta Nalewakalou to cross the line in the first five minutes.

Bay of Plenty raced out to a 26-0 lead at halftime before Coastline launched their comeback bid.

Momentum began to swing the Western Bay's way with strong running by forwards Vance Te Utupoto, Daniel Karauna and Brendon Anderson. This was soon rewarded with a try by Tane Leef and saw the team on the scoreboard in the 60th minute.

Coastline crossed the tryline a few more times but could not chase down the points that were amassed in the first half.

Unuwai said he was rapt that Bay of Plenty had kept their winning streak alive, having beaten Waikato last week.

"We're having a good season so far but there are some areas that we need to work on next week.

"Our defence was good we need keep that up for the full 80 minutes," he said.

Bay of Plenty's next match is against Gisborne East Coast in Rotorua on Saturday.