The Bay of Plenty Steamers will take on Auckland this weekend in a historic event in their last round-robin game of the Bunnings Warehouse 2024 National Provincial Premiership season.

The match, hosted by Auckland Grammar School, will mark 20 years since the Bay of Plenty Steamers last won the Ranfurly Shield against Auckland in 2004.

Sunday’s match, with kickoff at 4.35pm, is also significant for both Auckland and Bay of Plenty, who are playing for the John Drake Boot.

The John Drake Boot. Photo: Supplied.

“If we win the John Drake Boot, we make a clean sweep of all the trophies,” said Steamers head coach Richard Watt (Watty).

“We already hold the Macrae Shelford Bay Cup against Hawke’s Bay, who we haven’t played this year. We’ve played for four other trophies this year with other provinces. This will be the sixth trophy, it’s the only one we haven’t won this year yet.”

The five trophies that Bay of Plenty Steamers currently hold – the Chief’s Cup, the Macrae Shelford Bay Cup, the Peter Burke Trophy, the Mark Weedon Trophy, and the Nathan Strongman Memorial Trophy. Photo: Supplied.

Watt said they’ve won trophy matches against Waikato (the Nathan Strongman Memorial Trophy), North Harbour (the Mark Weedon Trophy) and reigning NPC champions Taranaki (the Peter Burke Trophy).

“The other one we won this year was the Chief’s Cup, which is the challenge cup for the Chiefs provinces. You must win it three times to hold it for the year. We beat Counties, Waikato, Taranaki. We also won it last year.”

The NPC consists of a round robin structure with 14 teams playing 10 fixtures, including five home and five away games. Fixtures are determined based off seedings from the previous year’s rankings. The eight teams with the highest number of competition points at the completion of the round robin proceeds to the post-season finals.

Bay of Plenty Steamers at team practice on Wednesday. Photo: David Hall.

The Steamers have forged ahead in this year’s NPC. Their season started in August with three tough games in eight days, providing a true test of the depth of the squad, with solid wins against Waikato, Counties Manukau and North Harbour.

On Saturday, September 28, the team put on an exciting and well-executed performance to thrash the mighty Northland Taniwha in round eight at the Tauranga Domain, winning 53-13.

They’ve faced some tough foes on the road this year, losing games to Otago (31-26), Tasman (34-15), and Wellington (30-25).

Bay of Plenty Steamers Head Coach Richard Watt. Photo: David Hall.

The Steamers rose to second place on the NPC round-robin table after their Tasman win, before shifting to fourth place the following day after the competition’s Sunday games, with only one game to go for the team before the semifinals.

“The boys are pretty excited for Auckland, obviously,” said Watt. “If we win up there, we get ourselves a chance of a home quarter-final and possibly a home semi. It would give us more home advantage.”

Bay of Plenty Steamers at team practice on Wednesday. Photo: David Hall.

Ahead of Sunday’s match, the team were out training on Tuesday and Wednesday, with Thursday a rest day. Then there was another day of training on Friday, followed by a captain’s run in Tauranga on Saturday morning, before taking the bus to Auckland, leaving midday Saturday.

“If the Ranfurly Shield happens to be available, then that would be nice,” Watty said on Tuesday. Auckland take on current Ranfurly Shield holders Tasman on Wednesday, October 2 at Trafalgar Park, Nelson, before playing Bay of Plenty four days later.

Bay of Plenty Steamers at team practice on Wednesday. Photo: David Hall.

Watt has been head coach of the Steamers for both the 2023 and 2024 seasons, bringing significant knowledge and passion to the provincial game. Previously a Steamers assistant coach for two years, he helped the team reach the semifinals of the Bunnings NPC. He has also held coaching roles with the Wellington Lions NPC team and Super Rugby Pacific side the Hurricanes.

“We’ve got good cohesion. The boys are tight and love playing with each other and for the Bay. We’ve kept the bulk of the team together for the last two to three years.

“We’ve got a lot of young guys coming through club rugby here. So, our backup guys are going really well.”

The quarter-finals of the 2024 NPC will be held from October 11-13, with the semifinals on October 18-19 and the final on October 26.