Bay of Plenty vs Hawkes Bay Predictions - Bay of Plenty backed to beat Hawkes Bay

Last season these two met twice with each winning away from home.

Bay of Plenty will be very satisfied with their season thus far but will want to reach the semis next weekend. They finished fourth on the table, level on points with third and only two points off top spot.

A strong start to their season was hampered with a poor run through the middle but Bay of Plenty bounced back to win four of their last five matches. Their only defeat in that run came three weeks ago in a five-point loss at Wellington.

Since then, Bay of Plenty thrashed Northland 53-13 at home and last week secured a 26-24 win over Auckland away.

Bay of Plenty have been in fine form recently. I don’t see them making many changes to their side from last weekend.

Hawkes Bay will be pleased with their quarter-final berth but should be concerned about their form towards the end of the round robin stage.

Of their last five matches, The Bay have lost four. Their only win in that run came in a 36-35 success at home against Auckland a fortnight ago. They did just lose by a point to Tasman at home at the start of September.

However, after that one defeat, Hawkes Bay conceded 50 points against Waikato away and 63 at home to Taranaki. Last weekend, Wellington beat them 46-28, so they are conceding plenty of points.

There are a few tough calls to make this weekend. The form of the players has been poor in recent weeks, but it is likely that those players will be stuck with.