Bay face thorny top-tier ties
Champions Auckland among 2019 crossovers
"I suppose the one good thing is that we managed to avoid two of the top four this year and don’t have to play Canterbury or Tasman."
Steamers’ assistant coach Rodney Gibbs
afternoon matches but if it doesn’t fit in with Sky, it doesn’t fit in,” Gibbs said.
In 2018, the Steamers played three night matches in Rotorua and two afternoon games in Tauranga. The Tauranga games proved more popular with the public.
This year the Steamers were well beaten by both Waikato and North Harbour and finished fifth in the Championship, missing out on a place in the playoffs.
They last played Wellington in the 2017 Championship final, losing in an overtime thriller.
The Steamers haven’t played Auckland since 2017, when Auckland won 38-19 at Eden Park.
New Zealand Rugby will begin work on the rest of the draw for the 2019 Mitre 10 Cup season.
This year the competition, in which each team plays 10 matches in nine weeks, started in midAugust. Because 2019 is a Rugby World Cup year and there is no mid-season break for Super Rugby, the Mitre 10 Cup may start slightly earlier.
Gibbs is standing down from being the Steamers assistant coach and is likely to take up a role in the development of women’s rugby.
The other assistant this year, David Hill, has also moved on to work with New Zealand Rugby as a kicking and skills consultant with the All Blacks, and assistant coach of the New Zealand Under-20s.
With head coach Clayton McMillan in South America with the Ma¯ ori All Blacks for the next 10 days, no appointments of new assistant coaches for the Steamers are likely until the New Year.