The early bird patrons at the Steamers game at Baypark on Sunday saw dramatic finish to the Bay of Plenty Development game against North Harbour.

Facing North Harbour in the entrée to the Steamers match-up with Northland, the Bay side trailed 3-8 at half time.

Development Manager Kevin Lee says a strong effort on defence into the wind in the first half helped keep Bay of Plenty in touch in the second half.

Bay of Plenty hit the lead courtesy of a Dwayne Burrow try and led by six with the clock ticking down.

With time up on the scoreboard the Bay side could only watch as their opponents crossed for a try, which resulted in huge North Harbour celebrations.

The resulting successful conversion gave Harbour an apparent 15-14 victory.

'We played to the final whistle and were rewarded with victory,” says Kevin.

'In spite of the Harbour players thinking the game was over, the referee signalled play on – with the Bay kicking off and receiving a last gasp penalty attempt, resulting from a North Harbour mistake.”

Willie Ripia stepped up and calmly slotted the ball between the uprights to earn his side a dramatic 17-15 victory.

The Bay of Plenty Under 20's finished their Northern Region campaign with a flourish, posting their second successive victory, defeating Northland 35-10.

The team from the far north scored first before Chanze Perham scored the Bays first try.

A second Bay touchdown in the first half came when Shaun Strudwick dotted the ball down. Ngatai Kingi converted both tries and added a penalty for good measure to give the Bay side a 17-10 half time lead.

Mackenzie McGougan crossed in the second half before Chanze Perham grabbed his second touchdown of the match to give the Bay a bonus point.

Ngatai added two further penalty goals to give the Bay 20's a comprehensive 35-10 win. Head Coach Kane Parker was extremely happy with his team's back to back performances, which completed a very tough representative season.

With the additional bonus point the Bay representatives finished a highly creditable fourth in the Northern Region competition.

There was further good news received from the Bay of Plenty Under 16 A side, who waltzed away from Thames Valley in Paeroa winning 72-7.

Head Coach Brendon Webby described the Bay victory as 'an excellent example of free flowing fifteen man rugby which resulted in 12 well constructed tries”.

'The big win was the result of the team sticking to their game plan and playing as a team rather than as individuals.”

Brendan was reluctant to single out any individual players as all 22 team members contributed to the 65 point victory.

There was more good news for the Bay 16's next day, when information filtered through that competition leaders Waikato had been upset by North Harbour.

The upset result meant that Bay of Plenty, Waikato and North Harbour finished equal top of the table, with four wins apiece from five games.

The Bay Under 18's finished their Northern Region competition going down to North Harbour 56-17 with the Bay Under 16 Development team beaten 56-3 by Counties Manukau. With a number of the Development boys still eligible for under 16 rugby next season the future looks rosy for the Bay age group division.

BOPRU Representative Northern Region Results September 29/30

Development: BOP 17 (Dwayne Burrows try; Willie Ripia 4 pen) North Harbour 15 - HT 3-8.

Under 20: BOP 35 (Chanze Perham 2, Shaun Strudwick, Mackenzie McGougan tries; Ngatai Kingi 3 pen 3 con) Northland 10 – HT 17-10.

Under 18: North Harbour 56 BOP 17

Under 16: BOP A 72 Thames Valley 7, Counties Manukau 56 BOP Development 3