Remember his outstanding try against Northland last year, finishing a length-of-the-field movement? With 7mins left on Saturday, he turned and chased down whippy Auckland wing David Smith with a withering 20m burst.  Even as the incredulous commentators spluttered in disbelief, it's understood the Front Row Club were already drawing up Davison's letter of expulsion.

Milestones
Cory Aporo's excellent first half try - fed by a lovely Colin Bourke steal, burst and pass -  was the third time he'd crossed on Eden Park this season.  He was the top Bay try-scorer in total for the season with five, ahead of Jamie Nutbrown's four.  Both players also scored in their last outing against Manawatu.  Ben Castle and Mark Sorenson are next in line for 50 games in the new season - both are sitting on 45, while Tanerau Latimer and Mike Delany (13 games) have a blazer in sight.

Lavea tory
Wise words from one sage figure high in the press box, countering claims from all and sundry that Bay of Plenty were dog-tucker before the game: "Where there's Lavea, there's a way."  The most maligned first-five in the country lived up to his billing, having a kick charged down for Jamie Nutbrown's try and getting sin-binned for a spear tackle on Mike Delany.  Rumour has it sections of the home crowd were calling for a sending off...

Bray's way
It's hard to be picky, because Lyndon Bray is consistently one of the best whistle-blowers in the country, and pleasant with it. But for the sake of one-eyed parochialism, here goes.  Twice he ruled out touch-judge's calls of `not straight' when Auckland were feeding the lineout - one led directly to a try - and he let Sam Tuitupou get away with a blatant obstruction as Nili Latu tried to chase down a grubber kick near the Auckland line.  He also came out with the call `whoops, I nearly did a Bryce' during Auckland's last try, which we won't even begin to speculate on.

Rameka
The best reffing on the day was a great little utterance from Steamers lock Aaron Rameka, after he was held up over the line in the 67th minute and copped a stray finger in the face for his troubles.  As the TMO deliberated, Bray went to check on the Rameka, who replied loud enough for everyone to hear `I got poked in the eye just as I scored'.  Bray laughed to his credit but the TMO wasn't biting and disallowed it.

Ice on the cake?
We posed the question on Friday whether Isaia Toeava was worth all the hype.  After fluffing a couple of passes, gifting a try to Cory Aporo and eventually limping off injured, we've got to give him a resounding .... yep. The kid is class.  Speed, skills and presence.  You can see why Wayne Smith drools every time someone mentions his name.  Remember how bad Tana Umaga was in his first season at fullback for Wellington? He's come a long way... and so will Toeava.

Stats by BOPRU Historian Brent Drabble.

Story with thanks to the Bay of Plenty Times