Bay of Plenty steamroll woeful Canterbury AT A GLANCE

Bay of Plenty powered past hapless Canterbury yesterday to move off the bottom of the Mitre 10 Cup Premiership table with an emphatic 44-8 victory at the Tauranga Domain.

The Steamers hadn’t beaten Canterbury since 2011 but turned in a dominant performance that boosts their survival hopes, as well as an outside shot at the top four.

Canterbury’s fourth defeat, after three one-point losses, was an embarrassment and leaves them fifth, outside the semifinals with three rounds to play.

They were monstered by Bay of Plenty, who beat up the Cantabrians physically and ran them ragged with six tries in a result few saw coming.

Bay of Plenty steamed out of the blocks with three tries in the first 21 minutes after a flying start from the likes of Chase Tiatia and Joe Webber, but it was the home side’s forwards, inspired by Mitch Karpik, who really rattled Canterbury.

The match could have got away from Canterbury when Sam Darry was sinbinned in the first half and a contentious penalty try went against them.

Bay of Plenty 44 (Chase Tiatia 2, penalty, Joe Webber, Kaleb Trask, Scott Curry tries; Trask 4 con, 2 pen) Canterbury 8 (Cullen Grace try; Fergus Burke pen) HT: 22-3

MVP points: Chase Tiatia 3, Joe Webber 2, Kaleb Trask 1

It seemed to galvanise Canterbury, and they lifted their intensity, keeping the red- hot Steamers out while Darry was sidelined for 10 minutes.

But they failed to capitalise on a positive start to the second half, and then impressive first fiveeighth Kaleb Trask booted his second penalty goal to stretch the Bay’s big lead.

An unlucky bounce led to Bay of Plenty’s bonus-point try, scored by Webber, but it was superbly taken by the hosts, who finished with a flourish with tries for Trask and Scott Curry as Canterbury made awful errors.

Fergus Burke’s first-half penalty goal was Canterbury’s only reward on the scoreboard until Grace’s consolation try in the final minutes.