They lost the scrums and were edged in the possession stakes but Bay of Plenty outflanked North Harbour in their ITM Cup match in Mount Maunganui tonight, winning 38-17.

Bolstered by outstanding breakdown work from flankers Sam Cane and Luke Braid, the Steamers scored four tries to two and eased away for an ultimately comfortable victory.

Unbeaten after two games, Bay of Plenty is well set for an intriguing match with Chiefs rivals Waikato on Tuesday, before finishing their eight-day home streak against Wellington next Sunday.

Harbour had plenty of chances but blew most of them.

Returning All Black Luke McAlister had a quiet game and was subbed midway through the second half, while No 8 Matt Luamanu mixed some strong running with sloppy play.

It took just three minutes for Bay of Plenty to open up the visitors, with New Zealand under-20 star Cane driving over in the corner, after a slick counterattack from fullback Toby Arnold.

Chris Noakes, in his first start for his new province after joining the Steamers from Otago, nailed the conversion from the touchline to make it 7-0.

Arnold sparked the next try as well, when wing Lelia Masaga gave him a quick throw-in 8mins later from a Harbour clearing kick.  After Arnold and second-five Jason Hona made incisions, skipper Colin Bourke nudged a perfectly weighted grubber kick through for Masaga to run onto, scoring in the same corner as Cane.  Noakes nailed that kick too to make it 14-0.

The pivot also added a couple of penalties and all of a sudden Harbour were 20-0 down after half an hour.

Harbour had moments of promising attack, notably when flanker Scott Uren burst through and fed halfback Chris Smylie, but Bay’s last line held firm.

With a weight of possession, their only reward for 40mins of endeavour was a penalty from first-five Ben Botica after 38mins.

Masaga did it again less than 2mins into the second spell, put into space by centre Phil Burleigh after a slick wrap around. The Chiefs flyer stepped past two tackles to score -
this time, Noakes’ conversion hit the uprights, his first and only blemish of the night.

Harbour’s night was summed up in the next 10mins, when they had four legitimate chances to score but bombed them all, through both poor options and desperate defence.

Ben Smith’s tackle on David Raikuna was particularly noteworthy, while Luamanu’s botched quick tap 3m from the line was the low-point for the visitors.

Luckily for the big Blues No 8, he made amends 10mins later, in identical circumstances.  This time he tapped from a 5m scrum penalty and ducked around the tacklers to score in the corner.  Botica’s conversion brought it back to 25-10 but three-quarters of the game had already gone.

The visitors had a sniff when Brenton Helleur burst down the blindside and fed Codey Rei, who had been on the field as a replacement for less than a minute, with Willy Walker converting.

But Noakes sandwiched two further penalties either side of that try and Smith, after an industrious game on the Bay’s left wing, nabbed the bonus point in the final act of the game.
 
Bay of Plenty 38 (Lelia Masaga 2, Sam Cane, Ben Smith tries; Chris Noakes 3con 4pen) North Harbour (Matt Luamanu, Codey Rei tries, Ben Botica pen con, Willy Walker con). HT: 20-3.