Today's Mad Monday celebrations got a little bit angrier for the Steamers after a deflating finish to their season yesterday.

Seemingly down to the last handful of fit players in the entire province, Bay of Plenty wilted under Taranaki's second half deluge to lose 30-24 at Baypark.

It was far from a fitting end to a season which has provided more high notes than low, though their seventh-placing on the table is a good reflection of the amount of depth available.

With flanker Luke Braid on painkillers and nursing sore ribs, players battling cramp and the bizarre sight of replacements replacing replacements, the home side gave a classy 40-minute farewell before fading soon after.

They raced out to a 24-6 halftime lead courtesy of Jason Hona's double and tries to Zar Lawrence and John Moore but Taranaki turned with a withering snarl and had all but erased that lead 6mins after halftime.

To the Steamers' credit, they hung in grimly, with Taranaki only taking the lead for the first time with five minutes left.

The Bay could have grabbed an unlikely victory in the dying moments, but replacement hooker Dean Elmiger was held up over the line after a desperate lunge.

In the end, however, the weary home side ran out of gas.

"Braidy went on with a rib injury and played through the pain but at 24-6 up, I told him he'd done his job," coach Sean Horan said. "If it was a final, he probably would have played on but it shouldn't be up to an individual to bring the team home."

Braid and fellow flanker Zac Hohneck were outstanding in the first half, Hohneck setting up Moore's first try for his province with a surging run.

Hona poached his first try with a 90m intercept but his second, just before the break, was pure winger class, swerving past Taranaki fullback Ace Malo.

No8 Colin Bourke converted the first two tries with such effortless aplomb that it was almost a rude shock when he narrowly shaved the posts with three subsequent efforts, while Taranaki first-five Willie Ripia knocked over 15 points for his team.