Amongst the most heavily used training aids this week for the Bay of Plenty Steamers as they look towards tonight's crucial Mitre 10 Cup encounter with Manawatu, and right the wrongs of their 54-21 hammering from Waikato last Friday night, has been the mirror on the wall.

'For us our focus has to be on ourselves,” says assistant coach Rodney Gibbs. 'We're letting ourselves down in some areas so we need to address that first and foremost.

'So we've done a bit of looking within.”

Tyler Ardron, who's inherited the captaincy role after first Liam Polwart and then co-captains Mike Delany and Tanerau Latimer broke down with injury, echoes those thoughts, and says he's pretty sure where things went wrong against Waikato, and what needs sorting.

'The forwards, we take the brunt of it. We got beat up by them really, they were more physical than us and when you get pushed around a bit in a game it's pretty tough for the backs to have anything to do outside.

'So that's our number one thing, and also those little errors on offence, turning the ball over.”

Often those errors lead not just to them turning the ball over, but to penalties as well. Another key area they got beaten up in as the penalty count against them reached frightening proportions, frequently handing hard-won momentum straight back to the opposition.

'You're gifting them metres and gifting them opportunities to get into your 22 and have a set-piece,” says Rodney. 'If you do that teams are good enough now to have lineout mauls and that sort of thing, that's pretty hard to stop.

'That was a big issue for us and those sorts of things we need to address pretty smartly.”

One of the things they'll be doing to reduce that penalty count, Rodney says, is get support to the ball-carrier in the tackle area more quickly – a race Waikato's forwards had a handy advantage in all night.

'That puts pressure on the ball-carrier to try and hold onto the ball. If the defending team wins that race then you're under pressure. But those sorts of things we can fix and be a little bit clearer on how we're doing that.”

The debrief after that match was painful, Tyler says, but productive, and the team are now in a good head space.

'We took a problem-solving approach to it because this is something we do for enjoyment, as well as a job, so there's no point coming in for five days in a row and being down and in a negative mood when you've got another game coming up.

'So we took a few learnings but we tried to bin it pretty quick and move on to the task at hand for this week which we're pretty excited about.”

The Steamers will take a largely unchanged lineup into tonight's match against fellow Championship division travellers Manawatu, a team on an even worse run than the Bay boys having lost six straight since winning their opening round match.

The return of champion openside flanker Mitch Karpik to the starting 15, after a hand injury forced him onto the bench last week, is a welcome sight, along with that of established number 8 Hoani Matenga. With him back in the fold the ever adaptable Ardron returns to his less favoured but very familiar role on the blindside of the scrum.

Although they're mainly looking for a team effort in the breakdown area, says Rodney, Karpik's return will be a lift.

'We're probably more focused on how we're working together, and how we create opportunities for ourselves, rather than saying one player is the gold nugget. But he's certainly a quality player and he brings an edge to the game for sure.”

Other than those changes, which give the back row a more settled and solid look, the forward pack remains the same.

In the backs Terrence Hepetema failed a fitness assessment yesterday so sits this one out. Liam Steel moves in one to take the second five-eight job, meaning a return to the starting lineup for Fa'asiu Fuatai who has spent most of the season on the right wing.

The good news for the back division is the return of dynamic line-breaker Chase Tiatia after his minor knee knock, but he will look to make an impact off the bench.

Jason Robertson will continue his efforts to make the first five-eight role his own now that injury has removed Mike Delany from the picture for the forseeable future. He had his shaky moments last week, but has the full backing off the management, Rodney says.

'We back the boys, it's all good learning for those young fellahs. That's the nature of the competition, those young fellahs come in, and you can't ship them out for one thing that goes wrong in a game.

'They've got to learn from it and move forward.”

Despite their collective failure last week Tyler Ardron is pleased to have a largely settled lineup around him, feeling they have unfinished business to attend to.

'It's probably easier to change everybody up and say you guys have a go but the guys that played, we've got a lot of things we want to set right so that's the focus.”

And one of the keys to that, he says, is reducing the pressure on themselves by keeping things simple.

'We're just going to go out and play rugby, and each person has their strengths and we're just going to try to play to those.”

Steamers lineup for tonight's match at Rotorua International Stadium, kicking off at 7:35 (appearances in brackets)

Solomona Sakalia (39), 2. Tom Crozier (4), 3. Ross Geldenhuys (6), 4. Baden Wardlaw (4), 5. Kane Le'aupepe (4), 6. Tyler Ardron (11) (c), 7. Mitch Karpik (12), 8. Hoani Matenga (5), 9. Richard Judd (15), 10. Jason Robertson (4), 11. Matthew Garland (7), 12. Liam Steel (10), 13. Fa'asiu Fuatai (6), 14. Bailey Simonsson (3), 15. Kaleb Trask (3)

Reserves: 16. Angus MacDonald (5), 17. James Lay (16), 18. Jeff Thwaites (27), 19. Aaron Carroll (5), 20. Zane Kapeli (3), 21. AJ Lafaele-Mua (4), 22. Luke Campbell (22), 23. Chase Tiatia (31)

In support of Blue September tonight's game is dedicated to generating awareness for the Prostate Cancer Foundation of New Zealand. On behalf of the Bay of Plenty Rugby Union CEO Mike Rogers will be making a formal donation to Prostate Cancer Foundation New Zealand CEO Graeme Woodside.

Donations will be collected at the gate, alongside a donation received from the sales of a number of playing jerseys. Rotorua's Pukeroa Holdings Group will donate $500 per converted try scored by the home team, with a maximum of $2,000 they are hoping to donate.

Adding to the entertainment of the evening the whanau zone will be open with skills and drills, free giveaways and pre-game autographs with the Steamers.