Competition for places is giving Bay of Plenty head coach Clayton McMillan plenty of the right kind of selection headaches as the Mitre 10 Cup season unfolds.

He's made minor changes to his starting lineup for tomorrow's Championship division top of the table Battle of the Bays encounter with Hawkes Bay in Napier, but says he and his selection team have no shortage of options.

'Yep, there's no rite of passage for anybody in this team. You've got to be a good man on and off the field and live by our values and play well on the weekend. Fortunately for us we've had lots of guys that have played well and when it comes to selecting the team it's getting harder and harder each week, and that's a good space for us to be in.”

The absence of Canadian international lock/loose forward Tyler Ardron at a family wedding has opened a path for Kane Le'aupepe back into the team. The lofty Te Puke Sports lock made a huge impression on debut in the win over Taranaki in Rotorua, and his return is the only change to the forward pack that began last week's 31-19 defeat to Canterbury.

That means a vote of confidence in English-born Tom Crozier who debuted at hooker last week, and Baden Wardlaw who got big raps for his third outing in the blue and gold hoops against Canterbury.

The choice of Le'aupepe over Mt Maunganui's Aaron Carroll, who's also been a revelation at lock this season, came down to the Te Puke's man's greater physical stature, says Clayton.

'We know that Aaron gives us plenty of energy of the bench, so that's what we're going with this week.”

The return of Matt Garland on the left wing and Liam Steel at centre are the major changes in the backline, along with Chase Tiatia, who has once again underlined the threat he poses to opposing defences with three tries in the three matches so far, moving back from wing to fullback.

Garland's return is an example of the luxurious position the selectors are in, Clayton says, of being able to rest hard working players when required.

'Matt in particular had played all 80 minutes of all the preseason matches and the first two games so it was an opportunity to just freshen him up last week.”

After playing a minor role last year this looks like being a breakthrough season for Garland who combines evasiveness with a serious physical presence, says Clayton.

'Yeah he's quite a big man you know - he's 6'3'' and over a hundred kilos, and has a great skill set. He's fairly new to the semi-professional environment, but he's made some real leaps in the last 12 months, and that's reflected in the way he's playing.”

After three intense physical battles with Premiership division teams in the first three weeks of the competition, including wins over two of them – Taranaki and Counties Manakau, Clayton says training this week was a little dusty to start with, but by Thursday was back into the right zone.

'That's to be expected given the tough battle on the weekend. The boys were physically a bit banged up after three weeks of tough games. So we scaled things back, and we're really happy with how they went today.

'Probably it's the culmination of having quite an intensive preseason and knowing we had some massive games early on, and throwing an enormous amount of energy into those games, emotionally, physically, mentally, and then having a natural falloff for a couple of days.

'Certainly the coaches are getting a lot better at recognising when the boys are getting a bit fatigued and having the confidence that if we scale things back it's the right thing to do at the time.”

Tomorrow's match in Napier is significant for all sorts of reasons. The Battle of the Bays has become something of an institution, with both provinces eager to claim the right to call themselves The Bay. The Macrae-Shelford Bay Cup, currently held by Bay of Plenty after last year's 46-17 victory in Rotorua, is a more tangible symbol of the bragging rights battle between the two, and will also be up for grabs.

But competition points are the major prize. Hawkes Bay have two wins from their three matches, the same record as the Steamers, but a swag of bonus points have given them a four point lead at the top of the table.

The win then means a lot to the blue and gold boys, to prevent Hawkes Bay opening a significant lead at the top.

Hawkes Bay's wins have come over fellow Championship sides, while the Steamers have two Premiership scalps, but that, along with last year's handsome win in Rotorua, have no bearing on tomorrow's match, Clayton says.

'It's a game we always look forward to, it's a tough place to go and win games.

'You just judge every game on its merits. It was a relatively close game last year until about the 50th minute mark and then we ended up running in four or five tries in the last quarter. We had an ounce of luck and they were a bit down on their chips at that stage last year so we'll certainly face a far more confident side this year and we certainly can't take them for granted.”

Bay of Plenty Steamers to take on Hawkes Bay at 4:35 tomorrow in Napier:

1 Solomona Sakalia (36), 2 Tom Crozier (1), 3 Ross Geldenhuys (3), 4 Kane Le'aupepe (2), 5 Baden Wardlaw (2), 6 Tanerau Latimer (81) ©, 7 Mitch Karpik (9), 8 Hoani Matenga (3), 9 Richard Judd (13), 10 Mike Delany (75) ©, 11 Mathew Garland (5), 12 Terrence Hepetema (22), 13 Liam Steel (7), 14 Fa'asiu Fuatai (3), 15 Chase Tiatia (29)

Reserves:

16 Angus MacDonald (3), 17 James Lay (13), 18 Jeff Thwaites (24), 19 Aaron Carroll (3), 20 Hugh Blake (21), 21 Luke Campbell (19), 22 Jason Robertson (1), 23 Trael Joass (3)