The victory could have been much more convincing. Bourke had a simple pass to Latimer to give the Bay a third try and a victory by half-time. Nobody else but the man with the flag thought that the Wellington try was even close to being valid. While it is good to see referees and their assistants actually making decisions without referring them upstairs, the Fan’s blood pressure would have benefitted from TMO involvement.

Cory Aporo burst onto the scene in 2006 with a series of powerful performances where he specialised in bursting through tackles and generally causing midfield mayhem. The next two seasons were not as spectacular but on Saturday night he was back to his barnstorming best, handing off multiple Wellington defenders and dotting down twice. Phil Burliegh added a new dimension to the midfield with his intelligent kicking. He looks to be genuinely two-footed and that helped to keep Wellington pinned down in the corners.

A man at the top of his game is Michael Delany. The Fan has always had an admiration for players that perceive their own weaknesses and work on them. Delany looked too small in his early years and was often picked up and driven back by hulking forwards. His defence was often suspect although he never lacked bravery and a couple of seasons ago his goal-kicking fell apart. On Saturday night, we saw a majestic first-five performance that can only be called Jacksonesque. Delany was running through the tackles of Wellington forwards if he wasn’t skipping around them and there are no defensive gaps in his channel. The goalkicking is a problem no more, he is even taking potshots from his own half.

The forward pack is competing ruggedly and enabling the backs to play. John Moore is playing top rugby in 2009 and has never given less than 100% in a Bay shirt.

Our first Baypark outing is on Saturday afternoon against a Waikato team coming off a sound thrashing by the Cantabs. The cowbell shakers haven’t beaten us at NPC level since 2003 and that’s a trend we should aim to continue into the next decade. The pedantic among you may mention that we haven’t played them since 2005 but that is all the more reason to turn out in force at the weekend and give the boys your full support. Go the mighty table-topping Bay!