The early bird patrons at the Steamers game at Baypark on Sunday saw a dramatic finish as Bay of Plenty beat North Harbour 17-15 in the development game.
Playing the curtain-raiser to the ITM Cup match, the Bay side trailed 3-8 at halftime.
Development manager Kevin Lee said a strong effort on defence into the wind in the first half helped keep Bay of Plenty in touch in the second half.
Bay of Plenty hit the lead courtesy of a Dwayne Burrow try and led by six with the clock ticking down. With time up on the scoreboard the home side could only watch as their opponents crossed for a try, which resulted in huge North Harbour celebrations. The resulting successful conversion gave Harbour an apparent 15-14 victory.
In spite of the Harbour players thinking the game was over, the referee signalled play on - the Bay kicked off and won a last gasp penalty from a North Harbour mistake. Willie Ripia stepped up and calmly slotted the ball between the uprights to earn his side a dramatic 17-15 victory.
"We played to the final whistle and were rewarded with victory," said Lee.
The Bay of Plenty Under-20s finished their Northern Region campaign with a flourish, posting their second successive victory, defeating Northland 35-10. The team from the far north scored first before Chanze Perham scored the Bay's first try. A second Bay touchdown came when Shaun Strudwick dotted the ball down. Ngatai Kingi converted both tries and added a penalty for good measure to give the Bay side a 17-10 halftime lead.
Mackenzie McGougan crossed in the second half before Chanze Perham grabbed his second touchdown of the match to give the Bay a bonus point. Ngatai added two further penalty goals to give the Bay a comprehensive 35-10 win. Head coach Kane Parker was extremely happy with his team's back-to-back performances, which completed a very tough representative season. With the additional bonus point the Bay representatives finished a highly creditable fourth in the Northern Region competition.
There was further good news from the Bay of Plenty Under-16 A side, who waltzed away from Thames Valley in Paeroa 72-7. Head coach Brendon Webby described the Bay victory as an excellent example of free-flowing 15-man rugby which resulted in 12 well-constructed tries.
"The big win was the result of the team sticking to their game plan and playing as a team rather than as individuals," he said.
There was more good news the next day when news filtered through competition leaders Waikato had been upset by North Harbour. That meant Bay of Plenty, Waikato and North Harbour finished equal top of the table, with four wins apiece.
The Bay Under-18s finished their Northern Region competition, going down to North Harbour 56-17 while the Under-16 development team was beaten 56-3 by Counties Manukau.
In the Roller Mills competition in Auckland, the Bay of Plenty primary schools side went down 24-10 to Waikato yesterday.
With good decision-making and some hard runs on attack which pinned the opposition in their own half, the Bay of Plenty boys led 10-7 at halftime.
Coach Cliff Honey said in the second spell the boys took the foot off the pedal and didn't execute the basics.
"Missing first up tackles cost us dearly which Waikato punished with a couple of soft tries," he said.
Honey singled out Levi Hartley, Kereopa Hartley and Flynn Kelly as the stand-out Bay players.
In spite of the loss the team are confident and have the semi-finals well in their sights.
Today they square off against King Country.