MURRAY Williams' match-winning penalty kick drew more relief than jubilation at Blue Chip Stadium yesterday.
The first-five nailed a 30m penalty with four minutes remaining as Bay of Plenty squeaked past Taranaki 18-17. The Steamers' first NPC points of the season vaulted them off the bottom of the table and into eighth spot.

But Williams was just glad a handy penalty kick which ricocheted off the left-
hand post in the first half hadn't been the difference between two mediocre teams.
``I was bloody glad that last one went over because I knew the one that hit the goalposts in the first half was going to come back and bite me in the arse,'' Williams said, nursing a bruised cheek with an icepack after the match. ``I was pretty relieved it went through.''

His first miss, after 20 minutes of the game, could perhaps be excused. The pivot won the penalty after his opposite Todd Feather tackled him high. He was still slightly dazed when he took the shot.
It was the 4500-strong crowd that was dazed, however, as the Steamers contrived to lose a match they should have won easily.

Just two minutes before Williams' last kick, impressive Taranaki No 8 Chris Masoe had strolled through weak defence to score under the posts and take his side to a 17-15 lead.
It was a match dominated by the whistle of rookie referee Chris Rooney (Manawatu), who saw all sorts of infringements at ruck and maul time and dished out penalties like a political candidate with a sack full of election promises.

It left Williams understandably frustrated.
``It just doesn't seem like we can get things going. It's all stop-start. It was an improvement on the last few games but we've got Auckland and Wellington to come so we're going to have to play a lot better than that.''
Skipper Wayne Ormond sparked the game into life after 14 drab minutes when he scooped a bouncing ball out of a Taranaki lineout 40m out, cleverly dummied a chip to wrong-foot Taranaki fullback James Hilgendorf and scored out wide.

Just before halftime, Taranaki centre Andrew Suniula stumbled through some ordinary Bay of Plenty defence after Taranaki mounted a string of phases within sight of the line, with first-five Todd Feather converting to make it 7-5.
Two minutes later, Steamers second-five Grant McQuoid scored a classy solo try when Williams put him into space on halfway.
Breaking through on halfway, McQuoid sensed the opposition were tiring and drew a bead for the goalposts, arriving after fending off the cover defence and racing away.

But Bay's 12-7 halftime lead was quickly whittled away by Taranaki replacement Sam Young's early second half penalty.
Taranaki butchered several more chances until Masoe's late try, but Bay of Plenty regained their composure in time to snatch the win.
A couple of seasons back, they would have withered but at least now they know how to close out a game ... eventually.

It was a large confidence shot after two heavy defeats to Otago and Canterbury, and the side will now have faith in Williams and how he handles pressure. His punting improved through the game and his combination with McQuoid started to look better.
``We've just got to cut out the little mistakes and hold onto the ball a bit longer. We were just starting to get things going and then we'd go and turn it over or something would happen.''
Williams paused when he'd said that, and he looked around the changing rooms at the happy faces of his teammates.
``It's a bit frustrating but we've got the win,'' he said. ``That's the main thing.''