He started his Bay of Plenty career with a successful Ranfurly Shield challenge – now outstanding No 8 Colin Bourke is feverishly hoping to end his seven-year tenure the same way.

Bourke confirmed after Tuesday’s heart-stopping 35-31 ITM Cup win over Canterbury that he will head overseas at the end of this season.  The 26-year-old played his last match at Baypark Stadium and made it a cracker, scoring a try and helping soothe frayed home nerves as the South Island team staged a thrilling fightback.

He will now watch intently as Southland try to defend the Ranfurly Shield against Taranaki on Wednesday, with Bay getting the final challenge of the season on Sunday if Taranaki are unsuccessful.

“Sadly this was my last game on home soil and the Southland game will be my last for the province but we may even have the added motivation of a Shield match – gee, there would be no shortage of motivation there,” Bourke said.

Ironically, Bourke’s first game for Bay of Plenty was in August 2004, when the Steamers stunned Auckland 33-28 to win the Shield for the first time.

His efforts against Canterbury helped his side climb back into third in the standings and went a long way to arresting their relegation worries.

Bay of Plenty centre Phil Burleigh admitted playing for their skipper played a huge part in their win.

“Most of the guys knew this was it for him and he’s a huge part of the side,” Burleigh said.  “It means a huge amount for us to be able to win on his last home game.  A guy like Bourkey deserves that.”

Bay will be going into the Southland game with a bit more confidence, having arrested a horror run of four straight losses.

And they did it against the Premiership front-runners, who were strangely mistake-ridden and disjointed in the first half as they conceded 29 unanswered points.
Ironically, it was Canterbury who scored first, with Tyler Bleyendaal kicking an early penalty, but for the next 38mins, it was all blue and gold.

Burleigh started things by breaking from deep inside his own half, halfback Jamie Nutbrown continued it and flanker Sam Cane threw the final pass to fullback Toby Arnold, who scored his sixth try of the season.

First-five Chris Noakes converted, then added a penalty, while Bourke started and finished the home side’s second try soon after, putting up a towering midfield bomb, which opposition wing Patrick Osborne made a mess of.  Bay collected the rebound and Tanerau Latimer surged forward, sending Bourke in under the posts.

Noakes potted the conversion and added three more penalties, before nailing a sweetly timed drop-goal after the hooter to send his side into the break 29-3.

Canterbury’s fightback began immediately into the second spell, with No 8 Nasi Manu, the pick of the visitors in the first half, ripping the ball from Latimer’s grasp with Bay hot on attack.

Halfback Willi Heinz made a great clearing kick and sent Canterbury back into the Bay half, then from a series of powerful mauls, Luke Romano eventually rumbled over. Canterbury’s scrum then decimated their opposites 20m out, pushing them off the ball and Heinz pounced on a loose pass, dotting down beneath the posts, then Ryan Crotty pounced on a loose kickoff, bolting straight in down the sideline for Canterbury’s third try.

With Bleyendaal’s conversion and still a quarter of the game to play, Canterbury’s resurgence appeared unstoppable.

It took another 15mins for them to open the home side up again, however, with Robbie Fruean busting from halfway and sending replacement wing Telusa Veainu over in the corner.  Bleyendaal’s majestic conversion made it 32-31.

But the intrigue wasn’t over.  Bay burst back onto attack, then won a penalty when Heinz held on too long.  Noakes did the rest, leaving Canterbury lamenting their first half woes.

“We just made simple errors in the first half, especially under the high ball, and with a better start, we could have won the game,” Manu said.

“Unfortunately we fell short but we can take positives that we got a couple of bonus points at the end – they could be difference between making the final and not.”