Canterbury were narrowly beaten by Bay of Plenty 19-17 in an Air New Zealand Cup match at Mt Maunganui tonight, the performance a long way below the team's Ranfurly Shield heroics in Wellington last weekend.
Poor handling, option taking and tackling cost Canterbury, who were dominant early on and led 8-6 at halftime.
But the Red and Blacks couldn't press home their advantage and let the Bay back in, and with a fired-up crowd roaring them home the Steamers held out the Cantabs.
Captain George Whitelock said after the game: "We were just trying to do too much. We should have tried to keep it more simple. Our skill execution was just poor tonight."
Canterbury will have to improve before next Saturday afternoon's Ranfurly Shield defence against Otago at AMI Stadium. But there were several players new to the Canterbury set-up playing at Bay Park Stadium tonight, and the lack of combinations showed.
Two of the newer faces - No8 Ash Parker (making his debut) and wing Tu Umaga-Marshall had good games in the first half and will be better for their outings.
Bay of Plenty first-five Mike Delany put his side on the board through a penalty mid-way through the first half, with Stephen Brett quickly replying in kind for Canterbury.
Brett missed another penalty soon after but after 26 minutes James Paterson scored a five-pointer direct from a lineout. Michael Paterson won good ball at the back of the lineout before Brett jinked through a gap and offloaded to Umaga-Marshall and good support from Colin Slade and Adam Whitelock sent the ball to wing Paterson who did the rest.
Brett missed the conversion attempt but Canterbury were 8-3 up and looking in control.
A penalty from Delany five minutes before halftime narrowed the gap to 8-6 before Slade missed a long-range attempt for Canterbury.
Bay of Plenty broke out and nearly scored but former Canterbury second-five Phil Burleigh couldn't handle the final pass.
A Brett penalty straight after halftime put Canterbury 11-6 up and he had to scramble the ball back behind the line to stop a dangerous Bay attacking move soon afterwards.
However, from a good Bay five metre scrum, No8 Colin Bourke gained valuable yards, with Burleigh scoring under the posts for his new team. A Delany conversion gave the Bay the lead for the first time.
A Brett penalty for a high tackle on Parker gave Canterbury the lead again 14-13 before Delany struck again to make it 16-14 to the Bay.
A mix-up from an attacking scrum by Parker put the ball into Tanerau Latimer's hands and the Bay flanker showed good speed to almost run the length of the field, only Brett's tackle saving the day. Canterbury halfback Andy Ellis won the ball at the ruck only for Brett to dive in and concede a penalty which Delany kicked to give his side a 19-14 lead.
A Brett penalty with 11 minutes remaining narrowed the gap to 19-17 but Canterbury couldn't get the next crucial score to win the match, although they were unlucky in the final seconds.
Umaga-Marshall showed up well in the first half before he was replaced by Sean Maitland in the second half and Michael Paterson's lineout work and general play was impressive.
Ellis, making his first start of the season, was strong throughout, as was hooker Flynn.
Bay of Plenty - Try: Phil Burleigh. Con: Mike Delany. Pens: Delany (4).
Canterbury - Try: James Paterson. Pens: Stephen Brett (4).
HT: Canterbury 8-6.
Canterbury:
1. Wyatt Crockett
2. Corey Flynn
3. Peter Borlase
4. Luke Romano
5. Sam Whitelock
6. Michael Paterson
7. George Whitelock (c)
8. Ash Parker (18. Nasi Manu 66th min)
9. Andy Ellis
10. Stephen Brett
11. James Paterson
12. Ryan Crotty
13. Adam Whitelock
14. Tu Umaga-Marshall (22. Sean Maitland 63rd min)
15. Colin Slade
Reserves not used:
16. Ti'i Paulo
17. Andrew Olorenshaw
19. Matt Todd
20. Willi Heinz
21. Tim Bateman