Bay of Plenty Bay of Plenty The Bay of Plenty () is a large bight in the northern coast of New Zealand's North Island. It stretches from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runaway in the east, a wide stretch of some 259 km of open coastline. The Bay of Plenty Region is situated around this body of water, also incorporating several large islands in the bay. The bay was named by James Cook after he noticed the abundant food supplies at several Māori villages there, in stark contrast to the earlier observations he had made in Poverty Bay. According to
Bay of Plenty Steamers All Blacks. Bay of Plenty has a proud history of rising to the occasion for major matches, on many occasions, often as part of combined teams in the first half of the 20th century, the Bay has pushed touring teams to the limit in memorable encounters that have ranked as the toughest provincial matches on tour. Although often gallant in defeat the Bay has also recorded some memorable victories over stronger opposition – the 1982 Wallabies were thrashed by 40–16 in Rotorua a week after having defeated the All Blacks, and again in 1990 the same nation was lowered 12–4.