The Bay of Plenty Steamers did enough to remain in the Championship semifinals calculations in this dreary encounter in Whangarei.
Off the back of a scrum that had Northland in reverse and a lineout that pressured the home side, the Steamers gained the upper hand early on and never relinquished the initiative during their 37-5 victory.
The Taniwha, with their shaky mix of a few Super Rugby reps mixed with the cream of Northland's club scene, were again largely toothless.
It may not have been what Northland No 8 and captain Dan Pryor had in mind for his 50th match for the union. He coughed up possession twice when tries were on, though he will be happy that his brother Kara has apparently been signed by the Blues.
Three others, prop Namatahi Waa, reserve halfback Kurt Davies, and blindside flanker Shane Neville, were all playing their 15th (blazer) games for the Taniwha.
Bay of Plenty's first half showcased a dominant scrum, some nice goalkicking by first five Nick Evemy, and the creation of several chances, but all too often poor execution bedevilled their play, and they led 9-0 at oranges when it could have been 20+.
Tino Nemani looked threatening at centre for the Steamers, but his error rate was too high.
The first try came a few minutes into the second spell when Steamers wing Elijah Nicholas scored in the corner after a nice break by tidy replacement No 10 Dan Hollinshead.
The Steamers' pick and go tactics almost paid off when Joe Royal dived over, but the TMO ruled that a Taniwha hand was underneath the ball. It mattered not. Seconds later, they were awarded a penalty try as the home scrum disintegrated. All this while replacement halfback Jono Kitto was in the sinbin for backchat. Lalakai Foketi scored the third after some sweet lead-up play, led by Hollinshead, and Keepa Mewett the bonus point score.
Northland No 10 Dan Hawkins slid over after a surge by Ross Wright, but he missed three off the tee, which might have made it closer.
Northland's next game is at Eden Park against Auckland on October 3, while Bay of Plenty have a decent break of eight days before they host Wellington in Tauranga on October 4.
- by Campbell Burns
Bay of Plenty 37 (Elijah Nicholas, Lalakai Foketi, Keepa Mewett tries, penalty try; Dan Hollinshead 4 con, Nick Evemy 3 pen) Northland 5 (Dan Hawkins try) Halftime: 9-0 BOP
