Success breeds success for Bay rugby side | Rotorua News | Local News in Rotorua

They say success breeds success and this year's Bay of Plenty Steamers have shown that hard work, determination and winning results can draw back the crowds.

Bay of Plenty Rugby Union commercial manager Dirk Merwe said last week's crowd of more than 13,000 for the ANZ Championships match against Otago at Mount Maunganui was the biggest since the 2004 season when the Steamers held the Ranfurly Shield.

Last year the largest crowd was just over 6000, for the match against Auckland, also at Mount Maunganui's Baypark.

Merwe hopes Rotorua will do the team justice and turn out in large numbers to tomorrow's clash with Auckland at the International Stadium.

"Pre-game sales for this week's match against Auckland are tracking quite nicely. We think Rotorua will turn out in force to support the team."

Some of the perceived animosity between Rotorua and Tauranga about who should host matches also seemed to have died off.

"The team's motto this year - 'Bay proud - our home, our team - encapsulates the whole district and Rotorua got two good home games this year,' Merwe said.

It's not just on-field success that is drawing the fans back. The Bay of Plenty Rugby Union has been proactive this season with the team visiting schools and involving themselves in other promotional activities to drum up more support.

Steamers head coach Kevin Schuler said the team loved playing in front of a good crowd as well as doing their school promotional activities. "Anyone who said they enjoyed playing in front of 300 people would be a liar. The Counties game in Rotorua was a good start, then we faced 15,000 hostile people in Northland. Last week's crowd in Mount Maunganui was brilliant," Schuler said.

The Steamers are currently third on the Air New Zealand Cup table, 6 points behind Wellington and one point behind Canterbury. Only Wellington are unbeaten this year after six matches.