Bay of Plenty were beaten 17-7 by Auckland East in the final of the iconic Roller Mills tournament played at New Plymouth's Yarrow Stadium on Saturday.
Auckland East opened the scoring with an early try to lead 7-0 before Bay of Plenty scored through Josese Vukataki, converted by Miles Tapsell. But Auckland East scored again three minutes later to lead 12-7 at halftime.
The Aucklanders went further ahead with another try to lead 17-7 after 32 minutes and they held on to win the title. Northland finished third with Counties Manukau fourth.
Bay of Plenty team manager Darren Harvey says Auckland East had three opportunities to score and took them while Bay of Plenty had multiple chances which they were unable to score from.
"It was a good contest. We were both equal and very physical teams," he said.