He walked onto the pitch as the new guy, but left to a standing ovation after a man-of-the-match performance.

And with two tries on home territory, it's fair to say Chase Tiatia made a big impression on his Steamers debut.

Chase Tiatia walked away with the man-of-the-match award following his Steamers debut a week ago.

The 19-year-old utility back was one of nine debutants named in last Friday's ITM Cup season-opening victory over North Harbour.

'What he showed was what he was well known for in Wellington – a big work rate and an ability to pop up in the right places at the right time,” says Bay of Plenty Steamers coach Clayton McMillan, who coached Tiatia in the Wellington Under-19 side last year.

'Obviously it's really exciting, and the important thing for him is to stay grounded and work hard like everybody else.”

After walking away with their first ITM Cup win of the campaign, the new-look Steamers now aim to build momentum as they head into the next two fixtures, starting with tonight's clash with Premiership runners-up Tasman at Nelson's Trafalgar Park (7.35pm).

'Tasman are a solid team, and will provide quality opposition,” says McMillan. 'We don't doubt they will be a challenge, but we will not be shying away from that.

'We intend to build on last week's performance and focus our commitment to all areas of our game.

'We're reasonably happy with where we're at, but we know there's still a lot of hard work ahead.

'It's about trying to be better each week. We're really focused on doing well in our home games, so we're hoping for a decent crowd for our next game against Southland, even though it's on a Wednesday.”

McMillan is pleased with the debutants' performances so far, with three new Steamers on the bench for this evening's match against Nelson in the shape of Whaimotu Craft-Chemis, Sabastian Siataga and Aidan Ross.

'We've got a number of new guys that are playing for the Steamers for the first time this year,” adds McMillan, 'and they've all been like wet sponges soaking up a whole lot of information and bringing a lot of enthusiasm to the environment.

'They've acquitted themselves well and they'll all get more opportunities over the next couple of weeks – particularly with the short turnarounds and two games next week.

'They're doing well and they'll continue to grow.”

The Bay side head into game two of the ITM Cup reasonably injury free, with the exception of Terrence Hepetema, who left the field six minutes into his debut with an ankle injury.

'Fortunately there's no breaks in his scans, but he's potentially got some deep bruising in the bone,” says McMillan.

'It's a bit of an unknown as to how long he'll be out for, but it will be for the foreseeable future.

'The only other bangs we've got are the guys who took a few light head knocks and we're just taking the precautionary route with them at this early stage of the season.

'Otherwise everybody else is fit and well.”

The Bay boys look to turn things up a notch in week three's game against Southland at ASB, Baypark on August 26, with the possible addition of All Black Sam Cane, who's released to play if required.

McMillan says: 'Sam's obviously a quality player and when he comes into the environment his professionalism and enthusiasm for the Bay jersey shines through and rubs off on other players.

'We've no doubt got plenty on the park, but it's probably just his presence that is a big lift to the boys. Our expectations of him aren't any different to what we have of the other players.

'He's the sort of guy that just comes in and wants to play well all of the time anyway so we're fortunate to have him.”

McMillan insists the possible addition of Cane is perfect timing for the Steamers, with a short time between drinks.

'Wednesday is a home game,” he adds, 'and he's obviously got some pretty big things coming up on the horizon, so it's probably timely for him to get a run too.

'But to have it in his own front yard as opposed to having to travel away is a win-win for everybody, with the exception of Southland.”

Heading into next week's double header, McMillan says the Bay side will be bringing their A-game.

'We've had a focus from the outset about worrying about ourselves and not getting too concerned about what the opposition bring,” he says.

'Obviously we do our analysis. We know where each team's strengths and weaknesses lie and we adjust our own tactics slightly to accommodate what we know the other teams are going to bring.

'Every game's a tough one and I don't think you can afford, particularly in a short turnaround, to get too wound up changing a whole lot of things based on the opposition.

'You just have to get your own preparation right. Recovery is a massive part of that so to be perfectly honest, tactics will be centred on getting the mental preparation right as opposed to the tactical part of the game.”

Next week will see the Steamers – co-captained by Culum Retallick and Carl Axtens – take on Southland and Waikato in a double header.

They will play Southland at ASB Bay Park on Wednesday August 26 and Waikato on Sunday August 30. Tickets are available online for all Steamers ITM Cup home games at: www.boprugby.co.nz

Alternatively, tickets can be purchased from the Bay of Plenty Rugby Union offices until 3pm today. Thereafter, tickets will be available purchase on the gate. Gates will open at 5pm.

Steamers Team to play Tasman:

1. Solomona Sakalia

2. Joseph Royal

3. Pingi Tala'apitaga

4. Tim Bond

5. Culum Retallick ©

6. Johan Bardoul

7. Zak Hohneck

8. Carl Axtens ©

9. Jono Kitto

10. Nick Evemy

11. Chase Tiatia

12. Caleb Hall

13. Lalakai Foketi

14. Tino Nemani

15. Craig Clare

Reserves:

16. Sabastian Siataga*

17. Siegfried Fisi'ihoi

18. Aidan Ross*

19. Joe Tupe

20. Shahn Eru

21. Te Aihe Toma

22. Dan Hollinshead

23. Whaimotu Craft-Chemis*

*Debutants