But enough about the All Blacks. Despite his dedication to the Bay cause, the Fan spent Stand time in Hamilton rather than Invercargill this past weekend. For some reason, attending these big games is a trial rather than a pleasure and it was a nice touch for the booze bus to cause a 30 minute traffic jam in Tauriko at midnight. What a perfect end to the perfect day out.

The mighty Bay Steamers were rather flat in Southland. It was one of those games where your team drifts to a defeat, frustrating for the fans to watch and not altogether surprising given their efforts in recent weeks. The injury to Solomon King has disrupted the dynamic back row and on the evidence of Friday night, Mark Burman is a lock and not a blind-side flanker.

The Fan felt rather ashamed for being ever so slightly pleased that the Bay collected their first bonus point against Southland. Bonus points are a strange idea. How did it become enshrined in rugby that a side deserves an extra point for losing by seven points or less? If the NZRU is serious about their ten team Premier Division and automatic promotion and relegation then surely it is time that they reviewed the bonus point system to ensure that actually winning games is the key to staying up.

If the rugby fans are unable to cope without bonus points then I have a proposal for a bonus point system. All games have an equal number of points assigned to them, six for example. If the losing team earns a point for losing by seven points or less then the winning team loses a point. That way, the meaningless try that the winning side concedes after the hooter will actually affect them on the ladder. If four tries earns a side a point then conceding four tries loses a side a point. The Fan is willing to send the full details to the NZRU for a nominal fee.

Thursday night’s game against Tasman is shaping as critical to the Bay’s semi-final chances. Great wins against Canterbury and Wellington will count for nothing if we are turned over by a side sitting just a place behind us on the ladder. Tasman is building a fairly solid season and we will need to turn up with our top game again to bag a victory. Some Bay tries would be welcome and four of them would send the crowd home very happy.