Club rugby is alive and well in the Bay of Plenty, after the pinnacle of the club rugby season was played out at the Tauranga Domain last Saturday (8 August 2009).

A stunning day combined with a large crowd - set the scene for the Bartercard Baywide Rugby finals, fought out by 12 teams from throughout the Bay of Plenty.

The opening game at 11am on the main field at the Domain was the Colts final between Ngongotaha and Te Puke Sports. The day belonged to the Rotorua side that had lost just one match (to Te Puke Sports) in the race to finals.

While the final result showed that Ngongotaha took out the encounter 42-3, Te Puke Sports never gave up the fight nearly scoring as the match ended. Ngongotaha kicker Barney Te Kani celebrated his 20th birthday in style banging home six conversions.

Field 3 at the Domain, which usually sees little senior rugby, was the venue for a real battle in the senior reserve final. Twenty minutes of extra time was required, before Te Teko sneaked home by one point from Eastern Bay archrivals Opotiki.

It was likely that there was traffic confusion in Te Teko over the weekend, with an enterprising supporter bringing the road sign that announces arrival in Te Teko, to the occasion.

The crowd at the first game on Domain 2 suggested that most of Katikati had come to the Tauranga Domain, to support their team's quest for the Division 3 silverware.

While Katikati got away to a good lead, Waimana came right back into the contest, before the Western Bay side won their first Baywide title 35-20.

The result of the haka contest on the day was shared between Te Teko and Te Puna, who both put on stirring displays after there division 1 final. In another grand display of clean hard rugby, Te Teko came from behind at the break, to win the championship silverware 15-10.

A long wait for their first Baywide trophy ended for Rangiuru who defeated Ruatoki 25-16, in an encounter where the lead changed on several occasions. The Western Bay side, that sat middle table with two weeks remaining in the qualifying competition, put together four straight victories to take them to Baywide glory.

The premier final, between defending champions Tauranga Sports and Te Puke Sports, lived up to the expectations of producing a classic contest. In a thriller, Tauranga took the lead before Te Puke came back to grab a two point advantage at the break.

The second half was a real arm-wrestle with the scores locked together twice, before Tauranga grabbed eight points in the dying minutes of the match, to snatch a 31-23 victory – and their third successive Baywide Premier crown.

After the pre-season loss against Hawkes Bay – who would imagine the Bay of Plenty Steamers would be on top of the Air New Zealand Cup points table, albeit on points differential, after two weeks play.

Their first big test of the season will come this Saturday night in Rotorua, when they face Wellington. In 97 years they have beaten the team from the nation's capital just twice.

All we need now is the All Blacks to find the winning formula.