It took an earthquake in Christchurch to put an earlier Steamers loss fully in perspective.

Last night's season-ending loss to Northland in Whangarei needed something equally dramatic but much more heart-rending to throw the game into sharp relief.

An hour after Skipper Colin Bourke trudged from the field bearing the burden of a 36-24 loss, he sat quietly in an increasingly rowdy changing room, carefully unwinding a strip of black tape from his arm.

His older sister Kathy died on the Gold Coast this week, two and a half years after his father Des lost a battle with cancer. The black tape, worn by the whole team, paid homage to her, with Bourke's thoughts quickly turning away from rugby.

"It's been a tough week," he said, somberly. "She passed away Tuesday night but I think she would've wanted me to play. I never really thought about not playing tonight but now my attention is on getting over there and bringing her back and maybe putting her to rest beside Dad in Cambridge. They were both up there watching me play tonight and I wanted to do them proud."

He did, of course, as he's done all season. Last night he assumed the kicking duties as well as his No 8 role and the captaincy, effortlessly slamming over a 40m penalty and conversion when first-five Mike Delany went off injured.

He gallantly led from the front as his team battled a horrific injury toll that saw substituted players coming back on and flanker Solomon King ending with a cameo on the wing.

He kept his cool in the face of three questionable decisions by the television match official to award Northland tries and calmly answered questions about his big sister without flinching.

"They're still trying to work out what it was but they think it was complications with meds that caused a bleed in the brain - we're still trying to get the details.

"It definitely puts things into perspective and it's just a game after all. We slipped at the last hurdle, we had injuries and we were tested but when we reflect on the season as a whole, we'll look back and be bloody proud of what we've done for the Bay this year. We cemented a top-seven spot and we've got a good base of guys to build into our centenary year next year."

Bay of Plenty went into the match lying sixth on the table, needing a bonus-try win to give themselves a shot at a semifinal berth next week.

But that dream faded as a spirited Northland, out of the running in 10th place, played spoilers in their magnificent new Stadium at Okara Park to send veteran David Holwell into retirement on a high.

Had Bay of Plenty made next week's playoffs, it's likely they would have been cannon-fodder anyway, with injury robbing them of a handful of their best players.

Wing Lelia Masaga was ruled out during the week and Culum Retallick banned for stomping.

Second-five Phil Burleigh limped off after only 3mins with ligament damage, giving Grant McQuoid an early introduction for his 50th and last match for the province.

Less than 10mins later, Luke Braid badly sprained an ankle, stumbled back in defence and snaffled a crucial turnover 10m out from his own line in his last act of the season before departing.

Delany took a similar knock near the end of the first half after two sublime conversions into the wind, following halfback Taniela Moa's 40m intercept and a barging try by prop Josh Hohneck which pulled the Bay back to 17-14 down at the break.

Northland had four of their five tries referred to television official Peter Nock with three of them controversial, perhaps making up for a howler ruled against them last week against Tasman, but the home side finished stronger and smarter, winding things down nicely.

Moa switched to first-five in the second half, nearly winning the game at 31-24 down when he poached another intercept off his own line and galloped 75m before being dragged down.

He had his best game of the season but his near-miss was symbolic of a Bay of Plenty campaign which hissed and roared in stages but ultimately ran out of steam.