Canterbury thumped by Bay of Plenty as 14-time champions risk missing play-offs for first time since 2003
Perennial Mitre 10 Cup juggernauts Canterbury have been humbled 44-8 by Bay of Plenty in a result that leaves the 14-time provincial champions facing the prospect of missing the play-offs for the first time in 17 years.
In sunny Saturday afternoon conditions in Tauranga, the Steamers ran amuck to hand the visitors their fourth – and biggest – loss of the season, leaving them one point astray of fourth-placed Wellington, who sit in the last semi-final spot.
However, the Lions have a game in hand still to play this weekend against a lowly Counties Manukau outfit in a fixture they are heavily favoured to emerge victorious from.
Should that be the case, and the likes of Waikato and Tasman win their respective matches, of which they are expected to, then the red-and-blacks could find themselves as far as six points off a qualification spot.
With three rounds left to play, Canterbury have a difficult run of games to close out the regular season against the Championship-leading Otago, reigning Mitre 10 Cup champions Tasman and top-of-the-table Auckland.
Given the credentials and winning records of those three sides, as well as Canterbury’s losing record and uninspiring performance against Bay of Plenty, it wouldn’t be out of the question to see them miss the semi-finals for the first time since 2003.
For a province that has only missed the play-offs three times in 26 years and has won nine of the past 12 titles, that would be a significant blow, especially considering the depth of talent evident within Mark Brown and Reuben Thorne’s side.
Even more concerning is the lingering possibility of relegation into the Mitre 10 Cup Championship, something that would have been unthinkable prior to the season starting.
It is a concept that is inching closer to reality, though, as they sit six points astray from North Harbour, the side currently occupying last place in the Mitre 10 Cup Premiership.
A win for them in their Battle of the Bridge derby clash with Auckland on Saturday evening would bring that gap to just one-to-two points, leaving Canterbury in a precarious position as they head into the business end of their campaign.
In order to survive relegation and qualify for the Premiership semi-finals, much improvement will be needed when they return to Christchurch to host Otago next Friday given how freely Bay of Plenty were able to run in six tries to one.
An ex-All Black has leapt to Ian Foster's defence after the New Zealand boss fell under heavy criticism in the opening stages of his tenure at the helm of the national side.https://t.co/agabnn7jJj
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 24, 2020
Steamers captain Chase Tiatia, starting in the midfield, opened the scoring by finishing off a scintillating set piece move inside the first 10 minutes, before the two sides traded penalties through the boots of Kaleb Trask and Fergus Burke.
Tiatia doubled his tally about 10 minutes after his first try, outpacing All Blacks Sevens star Andrew Knewstubb after charging a clearing kick down to slide over in the corner.
A yellow card to new Blues signing Sam Darry didn’t help Canterbury’s cause, and things went from bad to worse for the away side as Bay of Plenty were then awarded a penalty try just moments later after an offside player killed off a certain try-scoring chance.
Up 22-3 at half-time, Bay of Plenty continued their onslaught midway through the second half when All Blacks Sevens veteran Joe Webber capitalised on some champagne rugby to dot down out wide.
Another yellow card was dished out to Canterbury, with hooker Nathan Vella sent to the sin bin as a result of his side’s high penalty count.
His absence added to Canterbury’s woes, as did Trask, who was on hand to finish off a special backline move that saw Tiatia and Webber combine via a cross-kick chip, which the latter flicked back in-field into the hands of the young Chiefs playmaker.
All Blacks Sevens skipper Scott Curry, coming off the bench as a reserve lock, finished off the demolition job as he charged onto the ball to score under the posts after Blues flyer Emoni Narawa took full advantage of a misjudged catch from a midfield bomb by Canterbury replacement first-five Brett Cameron.
With the scoreline reading 44-3, the Cantabrians earned themselves a consolation try in the final few minutes through No. 8 Cullen Grace, who was released from the All Blacks camp to play in the match.
Canterbury will be without his services for the remainder of the competition as he departs for Australia to compete in the Tri Nations on Sunday, though, leaving Thorne and Brown with a tricky job to overturn such a hefty defeat in just six days’ time.
Comments on RugbyPass
late hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
4 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
24 Go to comments