Sideline Sid Sports correspondant & historian www.sunlive.co.nz

Sideline Sid had a bad weekend with his sporting predictions. The Steamers failed to fire against Hawke's Bay, David Tua got beat, and his bets at the TAB saw his selected horses run like donkeys.

It will be interesting to see the numbers that turn up at the Steamers last home game of the season at Baypark next Tuesday night. While everyone was getting on the bandwagon after the Steamers posted an unbeaten record winning their first four games of the ITM Cup – the fair-weather fans have again hit the airwaves after the Steamers recent efforts.

While the Steamers have lost their last three encounters, the true test of a REAL FAN is to support your team through both triumph and more importantly adversity.

The well-used cliché of a ‘season defining game' really does sum up the Steamers match-up against Auckland on Saturday afternoon. Sitting in third place, just two points adrift of competition leaders Waikato, courtesy of six bonus points, the Steamers must defeat the team from the big smoke to remain in contention for a finals berth.

Instead of the usual playoffs, this season's ITM Cup Premiership is a straight final between the top two qualifiers. With just three games remaining in the six week sprint of this year's ITM Cup season, the blue and gold brigade are well positioned to make the top two – if they can start to win again.

In what is a rare afternoon kick off at 2.35pm the Steamers will meet the Auks at the venue that will host the Rugby World Cup final in just a few weeks time.

It will be interesting to see how many Auckland supporters turn up to Eden Park on Saturday afternoon. It is the smaller unions such as Bay of Plenty, Hawke's Bay. Manawatu and Southland that attract the best numbers of the two ITM Cup competitions.

Disappointing is the only way to describe David Tua's performance on Saturday night. Facing a fighter who in reality is only a journeyman, Tua simply failed to fire. Monty Barrett quickly took advantage of Tua's slow start, and built-up enough points in the first two thirds of the match, to take out a point's decision.

Where does David Tua go from here is a good question? While David states that he wants to keep boxing, who is he going to fight? – When the promoters desert the ship, boxers have little chance of big paydays.

While Tua destroyed Shane Cameron in the New Zealand version of the ‘Fight of the Century' nearly two years ago, Cameron is again a marketable proposition. Shane Cameron looked at his options, which suggested that he was only going to be a big fish in a small pond in the international heavyweight ranks, and re-invented himself as a cruiserweight.

How fortunes change in a blink of an eye. Cameron got a lot of press calling out Australian world champion Danny Green, with Green mostly belittling the Kiwi boxer's overtures.

However, just a month or so ago in Australia, Green lost his IBO cruiserweight world title with Cameron annexing the Commonwealth crown on the undercard. In the fickle world of boxing, where titles and the cash that can be made from title defences rule, Cameron now holds all the aces in any match-up with Green.

Sideline Sid can't finish this week column, without mentioning the performance of local Tauranga Pro boxer Gunnar Jackson on the Tua undercard. While Gunnar was narrowly beaten (on points) in a real barnburner, he showed genuine heart and determination, which will take him a long way in the Pro ranks.

Seeya at the Steamers Game