Wellington v Bay of Plenty 1976 and 2004

Above: BoP captain and flanker Tuck Waaka on the burst against Wellington on 5 August 1976. Photo Credit: The Evening Post

For many seasons Wellington either won their National Provincial Championship fixture against Bay of Plenty or the two sides never met as the Steamers spent most of the 1990s playing in the old NPC second division.

But two notable exceptions where in 1976, the inaugural NPC season and which Bay of Plenty won, and in 2004 which was the year that Bay of Plenty took the Ranfurly Shield off Auckland and reached the semi-finals.

Each of these matches between the Lions and the Steamers were thrillers in which they drew 18-18 at Athletic Park in 1976 and the Steamers won 17-13 at home in 2004.

In an uneven scheduling of the NPC, the match in 1976 played in early August was just the Steamers’ second of that year’s championship and Wellington’s third. But after this, BoP stormed through the country and clinched the title by beating Hawke’s Bay 10-7 in their final match.

An even contest was predicted at Athletic Park, Wellington fielding a rearranged backline that was missing wings Bernie Fraser (hamstring injury) and Stu Wilson (NZ Colts duty) up against a hugely experienced BoP side that featured 701 combined caps in its starting XV.

And so it proved, the Evening Post reporting the next day how the two “mediocre” sides of comparable ability “fumbled” to an 18-18 draw, adding “It was a match where errors cost each side 18 points, with mistakes – not attacking rugby – being directly responsible for 36 points.” Wellington led 18-9 at one point, but BoP came back to draw level with three penalties to Greg Rowlands, who was to be the leading points scorer in 1976 with 83.

Fast-forwarding almost three decades and into the professional era, the performance of BoP was the fairytale story of 2004. They lifted the Shield off Auckland in the opening week, staved off Waikato’s challenge and then lost it to Canterbury. But they won five of their next six games to qualify third for the semi-finals, eventually losing to Canterbury at Christchurch.

This was also the season that the Lions topped the standings at the end of the round-robin for the first time, going on to beat Waikato in their first ever home semi-final at Westpac Stadium and then losing to Canterbury a week later in the final.

Heading into this match, the Lions were expected to win, having beaten the Steamers 33-13 the previous year with Thomas Waldrom scoring two tries and crushed them 74-12 in 2002 with Tana Umaga, Paul Steinmetz and David Holwell scoring braces and Holwell scoring 34 points.

Big defence enabled the Steamers to beat the Lions in this match. On a windy afternoon, BoP had first use of the conditions and held a halftime lead that they weren’t expected to protect in the second spell – especially when Wellington’s Talisman Tana Umaga scored soon after the oranges to close the gap.

But this Steamers side was made of stern stuff and the result came down to injury time with the Lions hammering away looking for a match-winning try. They looked to have secured it when Umaga was held up over the chalk by Steamers loosies Wayne Ormond and Colin Bourke, but the next blast on referee Steve Walsh’s whistle was for fulltime.

The above article was first published in a Wellington Lions match-day programme in 2008.