What a great weekend it turned out to be for Bay of Plenty Rugby. A narrow win over Manawatu and two players selected for the All Blacks.

While the Steamers had slipped off the pace in recent weeks prior to the Manawatu win – the team in the blue and gold has punched above its weight all season. The Air New Zealand Cup point's table tells a story of the Steamers sitting in seventh place.
However, second to sixth position have all posted either one more (eight) or the same number (seven) of victories as the Steamers. With the Steamers grinding out wins, they have only picked up two bonus points.
Who will forget the victories over Canterbury and Wellington who held the Ranfurly Shield. This Sunday is the last opportunity for the thousands of Steamers fans to see their beloved team when the side takes on the Taranaki at Baypark.
Not only will the Steamers want to finish the match on a high note, but also a victory would give revenge for a preseason defeat by the 'Naki”.
However, two faces missing on Sunday afternoon will be Tanerau Latimer and Mike Delany. Both of course have been selected for the All Blacks end of year tour to Europe.
While Tanerau Latimer was selected for the 'Mighty Blacks” earlier in the season against France and Italy – the 'experts” were suggesting that a couple of other contenders would leapfrog him into the end of season tour.
Any critics he might have had were well and truly answered last Friday night in Palmerston North, where he made life a misery for Manawatu. Two magnificent turnovers of Manawatu ball played a big part in the Steamers' victory.
While the Bays last previous All Black was an import who came and went – Tanerau is a Bay boy through and through. His club affiliations are with Rangiuru, which is one of the oldest established clubs in the region.
He has played in the Bay all his rugby life since joining Te Puke JMC rugby as a youngster. His outstanding quality has always been his superb work ethic, which he has maintained all season, in spite of sitting on the sidelines in the greater All Black squad.
While many outside of Bay of Plenty are calling the elevation of Mike Delany into the All Blacks a surprise – we passionate Bay supporters were not in the least surprised.
Mike is another Bay boy, who is one of the growing list of All Blacks to come from Rotorua Boys' High School. All season he has been one of the dominant figures in the Air New Zealand Cup with his darting runs playing havoc with the opposition, or his tactical kicking turning defence into attack.
His road to the top hasn't been a quick journey, with the pivot first coming to local rugby follower's attention for Mount Maunganui when they won the Baywide championship in 2005. Bay and Super rugby selection has seen Mike tread the rugby pathway all the way to wearing the silver fern.

For the record, the following were selected for New Zealand while playing for Bay of Plenty. 1921-23 AL McLean 1922-25 LF Cupples 1955-56 WN Gray 1960 EJ Anderson 1965 RJ Conway 1967 AJ Jennings 1971-71 AM McNaughton 1974-76 GM Crossman 1976 EJT Stokes, GD Rowlands, LJ Brake 1976-77 GD Baty 1976-78 NM Taylor 1980-86 HR Reid 1981-85 FNK Shelford 1983-85 GJ Braid 1986 AM Stone 1989 SC McDowell 2005 K Senio 2009 Tanerau Latimer, Michael Delany.