Bay of Plenty 27 (Jamie Nutbrown, Colin Bourke, Cory Aporo try, Murray Williams 2 con, 3 pen)
Manawatu 16 (Francisco Bosch 1 try, Graham Smith 1 con, Matty James 3 pen) HT 7-6 BOP

Not a great way to spend your Thursday night if you are a Bay fan. Sloppy play, a lack of intensity, a lopsided penalty count (14-2 at one point) and an enterprising Manawatu made for a nervous night, the nerves eased somewhat by the fact that we are already in the quarters.

When we actually held onto the ball and strung some phases together we looked dominant, unfortunately that was a rare event. Manawatu in contrast went wide early and used their very fast back 3 to cause us problems. Margin of victory probably flattered us in the end as we were 16-14 down half-way through the second half and staring at embarrassment.