The Bay of Plenty Steamers have ignited their Mitre 10 Cup campaign in style with a comprehensive 30-10 defeat of Premiership title-chasers Taranaki at Rotorua International Stadium.

With the win comes not only the satisfaction of wiping out a losing streak stretching out over a dozen years for the Steamers but also the Peter Burke trophy for competition between the two provinces, and the status of inaugural holders of the Chiefs Country Cup – the brand new challenge trophy contested between the four Chiefs partner unions.

That's all in addition to the four hard-won Championship competition points coming the Steamers way, always a bonus from crossover matches against Premiership opposition. Particularly when the opposition in question are the current Ranfurly Shield holders, and beaten semifinalists in last year's upper-tier competition.

There was also huge personal satisfaction for two of the debutantes in blue and gold, locks Kane Le'aupepe and Aaron Carroll – who only learnt he was starting a two and a half hours before kickoff when Tyler Ardron was too unwell to play. Both scored tries to cap off dynamic performances.

The manner of the win though will bring as much satisfaction as the points and trophies. Coach Clayton McMillan's gameplan was about keeping it simple and getting combinations going, and once they got their hands on the ball after the visitors had the better of the opening five minutes the Steamers exerted a level of control that suggested they meant business, and an upset was in the wind.

They were first over the line 12 minutes in through new skipper Liam Polwart – typically at the bottom of a forward drive after a concerted period of pressure on the Taranaki line.

Old hand Mike Delany, whose experience in the number 10 jersey and navigation skills in guiding his team around the field were crucial to the win, opened his faultless display off the kicking tee with the conversion to put his side 7-0 up.

Moments later Taranaki were level when wing Seta Tamanivalu powered through the home side's defence. Far from turning the tide, however, it proved to be the only moment of excitement they were able to produce in the game.

Fullback Beaudein Waaka, who had missed his first attempt, put the visitors in front 10-7 with a penalty after 20 minutes, but it was a short-lived lead as the Bay put the phases together and built the pressure on the Naki line.

The result was Le'aupepe's moment to shine when he picked up the ball from the base of a ruck a couple of metres out and drove over, with assistance – not that he probably needed it – from halfback Richard Judd.

Steamers' Man of the Match halfback Richard Judd snipes around the side of a ruck

Delany's conversion put them 14-10 up, and it was a lead they protected superbly until halftime, and then through a second half shut-out.

So comprehensive was the Steamers' dominance of the second spell that their territory became a distant memory to the visitors. The only sustained period they managed on attack in the half was as fulltime was imminent and the game was gone.

Carroll's try 13 minutes into the spell stretched the Steamers lead out to 21-10 with Delany's conversion. It proved to be the end of the tryscoring but it was indicative of the Steamers' professional mindset that they chose to capitalise on their continued dominance through the boot of their polished number 10. He had three opportunities to convert penalties as the visitors infringed under pressure, and accepted all three.

Aaron Carroll was buzzing afterwards, but quick to pay tribute to his teammates.

'It took me a while to get into it but once I did it sort of clicked. I had great lads around me helping me around the park so yeah had a good time out there.”

His try on debut was reward for his superb workrate, and being in the right place at the right time, but he felt he owed a lot to halfback Judd.

'Yeah, just snuck that one in – it was a great line from Juddy and he just put me through there.

'Onwards and upwards from here. Hopefully we'll hold that Chiefs Cup for the rest of the season and things are looking good.

'I don't think anything was easy out there, we were working our butts off and we got the rewards for it.”

Typically coach Clayton McMillan registered a degree of satisfaction but wasn't allowing himself to get carried away.

'It certainly had its shaky moments, but it was great to come away with the win.

'I thought our second half in particular was really disciplined and clean, we didn't give away too many penalties and cough up the ball too much. We played all the rugby down in their territory and that was probably the defining aspect of the game.

'The last minute and a half of the game was just as pleasing as anything. The game was in the bag and the boys just kept getting up off the ground and making those tackles and that was a good sign early on.”

He had a special word for his two locks on debut too.

'I thought they were outstanding, for their first game to play the way they did. They would learnt a lot from the scrums and lineout pressure – that stuff wasn't perfect but we can fix that. What we now know is that they can play at this level, and not just play but stamp their mark on the game.”

Lock Kane Le'aupepe was one of the Steamers' tryscorers on debut

The Bay of Plenty Steamers are now the holders of the Peter Burke Trophy and the Chiefs Country Cup

New skipper Liam Polwart and vice captain Mike Delany with the trophies