Rennie: it was a poor effort

Turbos coach Dave Rennie said Bay of Plenty did all the little things better than his team in the wet at Mt Maunganui last night.

And he puts that down to being urgent and physical.

He said if the Turbos don't bring that, they will battle to win games.

So back down to earth they thumped yet again; fives losses, the solitary win, over Wellington.

He repeated his mantra from the other defeats: "We need everyone firing and everyone to be at their best."

Once in five games is not good enough.

"You can't go in there and have guys cruising through 80 minutes of footie," Rennie stressed.

In the short term, personnel changes might work, if men like Callum Gibbins are fit. Long term it could be a personnel issue too.

Excuses were the last thing Rennie was looking for. It resembled the ease with which Bay of Plenty scored five tries in the pre-season game at Reporoa, lost 35-10.

"To concede six tries in those conditions is shocking," Rennie said last night.

"There is no excuse for a performance like that. That was poor."

Perhaps it might have been different if the same forward pack had been able to be retained from the Wellington win.

Some of the players were still sore from that game, but that's the competition. And they did have light training during the week.

"We didn't sack their drives; we let in a couple of soft tries, around the fringes going forward we weren't aggressive enough.

"When we had possession they got off the line and got into us.

"In the end we got out-muscled and we didn't react."

The Turbos have had no more than two wet games in their five years, indeed only two wet practices all season.

While the field was a mess last night, the Steamers coped with it.

"In the end it looked like one team was keen to be out in the elements and we didn't," Rennie said.

"We kicked to hand and they kicked to grass, and our chase was poor and when they kicked they put a lot of pressure on us."

Bay of Plenty coach Sean Horan had expected Manawatu to find it hard after their win over Wellington.

"That was outstanding, the underdogs took on the capital like that and smoked them. I thought it would be really hard to get back up.

"I was really worried about the weather, which is a leveller."

He said his men brought attitude from losing to Canterbury, surviving the earthquake and a 24-hour trip home.

"We wanted to rectify it and sometimes a short turnaround can be a blessing."

He said every BOP game had been wet this season.

- © Fairfax NZ News