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Off-field turmoil spurs Steamers
Written by Craig Tiriana
Saturday, 19 July 2008

Bay of Plenty's well-publicised off-field dramas appear to be spurring on the Steamers.

The union's Air New Zealand Cup squad recorded their second straight win of the pre-season last night, a 33-29 victory against North Harbour in Tauranga.

It was a robust five tries-to-four victory at BayPark and one that showed the team are on the job of preparing for their cup opener against Tasman on July 31.

The win came just days after it was revealed the union was making 10 staff - including five rugby development officers - redundant as they worked to get their financial house in order after losing $915,000 during the past 18 months.

Steamers coach Kevin Schuler said it was important to separate what was happening in the front office from his boys, but admitted it had affected people.

"It's also a very galvanising thing," Schuler said. "The whole union's in this together, the players know it, the players have been told it.

"We've cut back hugely on what we do for the players - the outfitting, they don't get as much as they did in the past, so everyone in the union is feeling it."

Schuler said Bay of Plenty was determined to be part of New Zealand rugby's landscape in the future and, as a result, hard financial calls had to be made. "Sometimes when you go back to survival you realise some of the things in the past you thought you need you don't really need, and I think that's a big learning curve for us as well."

The learning certainly hasn't been consigned to the union's offices, with the Steamers rectifying last night on the mistakes they made a week ago against Manawatu.

The lineout and scrum were sound despite the disruption of hooker John Pareanga limping out of the warm-ups with a calf strain. That forced Marcel Cummings-Toone into the starting role while prop Matt Wallis was recalled from the sponsor's lounge to play.

There are now a couple of injury concerns in the camp with openside flankers Luke Braid (knee) and Tanerau Latimer (hamstring) and prop Arden-David Perrott (rib) coming off for treatment.

Strong games were turned in by captain Jamie Nutbrown, Colin Bourke and Culum Rettalick while Zar Lawrence, bar an early spill, made a reasonable fist of his Bay debut at fullback. The big improver was second-five Nigel Hunt. Guilty of losing too much ball in contact a week earlier, he was sound last night.

With the game carrying first-class status, the most important job was accomplished by simply winning. It was the first time the union had won two games in a row since 2006.

Schuler said while the wins were doing a huge amount for the confidence of the young side, they needed to bridle their enthusiasm at times. They were guilty of playing carefree rugby when they should've closed the game down but on the other hand, this side has the confidence to play.

The Bay was well on its way to a win at 33-17 (five tries to two) at the three-quarter mark. However, with the Bay attacking carelessly, North Harbour struck back with two tries and forced the hosts to defend until fulltime.

The Steamers play their final pre-season match next Thursday against Waikato in Hamilton.