KEY POINTS:
Bay of Plenty overcame a horror travel schedule and atrocious conditions to beat Tasman 8-7 in an Air NZ Cup rugby match in Blenheim last night.
The Bay of Plenty players will be assured a solid sleep last night after working overtime to put Tasman away on a Lansdowne Park ground reduced to slush in places following the heavy rain which has swept the country.
The conditions made ball retention difficult while it was a common to see players lose their footing altogether.
That, and the sound defence of both teams, effectively saw them cancel one another out.
The only scoring in the second half came seven minutes from fulltime when Bay of Plenty first five-eighth Mike Delany landed a penalty from a handy position to edge his side in front for the first time in the match.
Despite enduring a 30-hour trip from Tauranga to Blenheim, Bay of Plenty started the stronger and enjoyed much the better of the opening exchanges.
But Tasman had the better of the remainder of the spell to lead 7-5 at the interval.
Tasman did not visit Bay of Plenty territory for the opening eight minutes but once first five-eighth Miah Nikora found his tactical kicking range the home side spent large chunks of time in the opposition half.
Both he and Bay of Plenty opposite Delany missed penalty goal opportunities before Tasman's territorial advantage finally told in the 32nd minute with a try to industrious No 8 Mark Bright.
A long pass from Nikora gave Bright the space needed to pierce a hole as he touched the ball for the third time in a sustained buildup after Bay of Plenty were stretched wide on both sides of the field.
Nikora landed the conversion as Tasman finally found reward for their endeavours, before Bay of Plenty hit back shortly before the interval when hooker John Pareanga was driven over the tryline from a lineout.
That fully justified the visitors' decision to turn down a shot at goal when awarded a penalty inside Tasman's 22 as they instead kicked for touch and backed the forwards to secure their own ball and organise a drive.
While the conditions fully tested both teams, the adverse weather sweeping the country also severely impacted on Bay of Plenty's travel agenda for the game.
They left Tauranga at 10am yesterday and only arrived in Blenheim at close to 3.30pm today.
A combination of closed airports, delayed flights, blocked roads and then a mechanically faltering team bus stretched the journey to almost 30 hours.
- NZPA
