More than game at stake for BoP

By CHRIS RATTUE

Bay of Plenty chief executive Jon Brady says his union was handed too tough an assignment by the national body.

If Bay of Plenty are beaten by Counties Manukau at the Tauranga Domain today, they will finish last and be relegated to the second division of the Air New Zealand-sponsored NPC.

They gained promotion only last year.

Brady said: "I think it is too tough. The only people who didn't seem to realise how big a jump it was were the people on the New Zealand Rugby Union."

The focus for now is on today's game at Tauranga, the scene of much jubilation last year when the Bay won the second-division title against Nelson Bays, which boosted their bid for promotion.

But 12 months on, the union have already had to plan for the "unthinkable," according to Brady.

Negotiations will have to be held with the sponsors because they may want to downgrade the value of their backing if the team are in the second division.

And about half a dozen of the leading players are on one-year contracts or have the ability to negotiate out of longer deals if the side are relegated, while the likes of Damian Karauna are on loan from first-division unions.

On the plus side, Bay of Plenty are hopeful of holding on to captain Mark Weedon, who works in a development role for the union. Many younger players have committed for next season.

"If we do go down, I hope it will be a bounce-back year," Brady said. "I'm not sure about all the history of Bay of Plenty rugby, but in recent times this is one of the most important days. It will determine a lot of things for the next three or four years."

Bay of Plenty have home advantage, with a crowd of 6000 predicted compared to the 11,000 who crammed on to the domain for last year's second-division final.

But the omens appear to be on the side of Counties Manukau. They have a full-strength squad apart from prop Polo Asi, who has been forced to retire because of injury.

The Bay are struggling. Halfback Chris Le Lievre and forwards Dallas Seymour, Wayne Ormond, Johnny Leo'o, David Duley and Aleki Lutui are sidelined.

And coach Gordon Tietjens has had to bracket props Francis Cameron, Taufa'ao Filise and Steve Simpkins.

Counties Manukau will also be in line for the automatic drop if they lose today. Coach Andrew Talaimanu said: "They [the Bay] will play like men possessed. We have to attack and we need five points."