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

Last weekend was a big occasion for Baywide club rugby, with rugby aficionados from throughout the province coming together at the Tauranga Domain, to watch and celebrate the Baywide finals' day.

Several torrential downpours failed to dampen the spirits of the people, who came to follow the fortunes of their clubs, as ten teams endeavoured to win the Baywide silverware on offer.

As the contestants kicked off in the first of three games on the Domain number one field, no one could have imaged the drama and heartbreak that would be played out in the coming few hours.

Te Puna Colts came from behind in dramatic circumstances, to upset Tauranga Sports in an encounter where the Tauranga side were in control for much of the match. Tauranga made the early running and led 10-nil at the break before Te Puna came back with their first touchdown.

However, a quick reply lead to another try to Tauranga Sports, who stretched their lead to seven.

With a minute of regular time remaining, Te Puna prop Tamiti Jory crashed over for a try with Shaun Borrell calmly slotting the conversion, to square the game up at 15 all and take the encounter into extra time.

Iria Peita nailed it for Te Puna when he crossed for his sides third try, with the Te Puna unit holding out Tauranga Sports to take home the McIntosh Shield for the first time in over a decade.

There was outright disbelief, when the second game on the Domain main field was also kicked into overtime, in the last couple of minutes of regular time. The Division One final was an absolute thriller, with Paroa and Rangiuru locked together after eighty minutes after a last gasp penalty goal from Paroa.

Unbelievably the scores were still tied after twenty minutes of extra time, courtesy of a try to former Steamer James McGougan for Paroa and a Rangiuru touchdown by Wi Kendall. With the score locked at 18 all after extra time the match officials went to the Baywide rulebook, which determined that Paroa were the 2012 Division One champions, courtesy of scoring the first try in extra time.

The Premier final, between defending champions Te Puke Sports and Rotoiti turned into a mud caked game of attrition, without a try being scored. Te Puke's ace goal kicker Nick McCashin slotted four penalty goals to give side a 12-3 victory and back to back Baywide titles.

Another battle of wet weather attrition took place in the Division Two final, where Katikati held Arataki scoreless to take out a 13 nil victory.

The team from the Bay of Plenty border held a paper thin 3-nil lead at the break, before running in the only try of the game to win the Baywide silverware and book a Division One berth next season.

One-way traffic was the order of the day in the Senior Reserve title decider. Tauranga Sports led Whakarewarewa 29 nil at halftime before going on to clinch the title with a 56 nil victory.

With the 2012 Baywide club season now despatched to the history books, attention will now firmly turn to the Steamers 2012 ITM Cup campaign. The first of three pre-season hit-outs will take pace in Whakatane on Wednesday before the Steamers back up twice next week, in Rotorua and Katikati.

Seeya at the Steamers Games.