Bay of plenty Steamers remain stuck at the bottom of the ITM Premiership table after a 33-16 loss to the Wellington Lions at an almost-deserted Westpac Stadium in the capital last night.
The Steamers will not be happy with another substandard defensive performance and their usually reliable set piece struggledagainst a top-quality Lions pack.
At times they looked lively and threatened on attack in the second half but the Lions were just too good.
The Steamers must now focus on their remaining three home games against Southland, Counties Manukau and Waikato.
Wellington knocked the Steamers back with some tough early defence, but in contrast the Steamers' brittle defence was evident in the first try conceded to Jeffery Toomaga-Allen after 10 minutes. But they finally put some phases together and Culum Retallick and Carl Axtens looked good with ball in hand.
First-five Willie Ripia put the Steamers on the board with a fine kick from a penalty after 15 minutes but more poor defence from the Steamers allowed centre Tim Bateman to run 35 metres untouched to score.
Ripia kicked another penalty after the halftime hooter but despite shading the Lions in possession and territory, the Steamers trailed 20-6 and faced the brisk breeze in the second stanza.
Ripia kicked the restart out on the full and the Lions flew on to attack with Afa Fa'atau getting past some weak defence.
Great work by Steamers winger Tino Nemani turned over the ball and 90 metres later Dave Thomas scored after help from Kimami Sitauti for an encouraging seven-pointer.
Winger Elliott Hagen ran on for his Steamers debut and became the 1200th Bay of Plenty player.
The Lions went 26-16 ahead after the kickers traded penalties but the Steamers were still in the game with 15 minutes left to play.
Smart play by Ripia and Nick Evemy sparked a promising attack with the ball spread across the park well but an unforced handling error thwarted the move with the Lions stretched.
Nemani gave away a penalty with a high tackle that gave the Lions the chance they needed to go on attack. Brad Shields set up a ruck in front of the posts and Shaun Treeby scored the clincher by the sticks.
The Steamers were twice held up over the line after some good ball movement in the final minutes.
They have time to regroup before their must-win game against Southland at Baypark next Wednesday night.
Wellington 33 (Jeffery Toomaga-Allen, Tim Bateman, Shaun Treeby tries; Lima Sopoaga 3 con, 4 pen); Bay of Plenty 16 (Dave Thomas try; Willie Ripia con, 3 pen). Halftime 20-6.
