Bay win battle of the Chiefs

Anthony Tahana of Bay of Plenty dives in for a try. Bradley Ambrose / Getty Images

A big defensive effort saw Bay of Plenty earn their second win of the season, 17-13, and put the seal on Waikato's NPC first division rugby season of woe in Hamilton tonight.

Bay of Plenty scored two tries to one in a dour encounter in the wet in Hamilton to secure their second successive victory over their Chiefs Super 12 franchise mates, in front of Chiefs coach Ian Foster.

It was Waikato's fifth loss in a row after stringing together three wins in the opening three rounds.

"It's obviously not the best for us, if I'm honest it's the worst (season) I've been involved with," Waikato captain Steven Bates said.

"It's not a matter of trying, the boys tried very hard tonight but it's just wasn't our night, and wasn't our season."

The game was marred by some poor kicking and handling errors, with all the tryscoring action squeezed into a five-minute period in the first half.

Second five-eighth David Hill gave Waikato a 3-0 lead after 19 minutes but Bay of Plenty stormed onto attack soon afterwards, wing Anthony Tahana held up over the goal line.

From the 5m scrum, flanker Nili Latu slid over to score, with first five-eighth Mike Delany's conversion giving Bay of Plenty a 7-3 lead.

Two minutes later they doubled their score when Grant McQuoid sent Tahana away down the left touchline for a try which Delany also converted.

Waikato struck back three minutes later when Hill made a clean break in the midfield and set up wing Richard Kahui for their only five-pointer.

Bay of Plenty led 14-10 at halftime, and with the two kickers trading penalties in the third quarter it set up a tense final 20 minutes.

Waikato mounted several raids in the final 10 minutes but couldn't get over the line as the Bay of Plenty defence held.

In a desperate final few minutes, Bay of Plenty captain Wayne Ormond was sinbinned by referee Steve Walsh for a professional foul on his own goal line, but in the next movement Waikato lost the ball to give the underdogs victory.

Bay of Plenty 17

(Nili Latu, Anthony Tahana tries; Mike Delany pen, 2 con)

Waikato 13

(Richard Kahui try; David Hill 2 pen, con).

Halftime: 14-10

- NZPA