Bay of Plenty survived a late rally by Hawke's Bay to claim a 26-24 bonus point win in Napier.
The win secured a semi-finals spot in the Premiership. The Steams will finish third or fourth, depending on tomorrow's Northland versus North Harbour match in Whangarei.
The Steamers dominated early, but were unable to turn that dominance into points, and it took them 20 minutes to crack the Magpies' defence when halfback Te Aihe Toma broke the line off the scrum to score by the posts.
Hawke's Bay halfback Brad Webber responded after a crafty run off the lineout to score in the corner.
Ihia West kicked a penalty goal for the home side just before halftime and they took a surprising 10-7 lead into the break.
Bay of Plenty hit the lead again, scoring two tries in the opening 10 minutes of the second half through centre Lalakai Foketi and prop Solomona Sakalia finding the line.
The Steamers thought they had their fourth when Joe Tupe crashed over the line, but as Dan Hollinshead lined up the conversion, referee Paul Williams asked the TMO to check the play and the try was controversially overturned after an obstruction ahead of the ball being grounded.
The Steamers eventually found their fourth try of the match when Williams awarded penalty try after Hawke's Bay collapsed the scrum close to their line.
The game appeared to be over, but Hawke's Bay centre Jonah Lowe scored two quick tries to reduce the gap to two points. But the Magpies were unable to find a match winner with the Steamers holding on.
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