The Bay of Plenty Steamers will play their first ITM Cup match with an air of confidence after they completed a clean sweep of their warm-up matches at Whakatane on Friday.
Facing Taranaki before a parochial crowd of Steamers fans in the Eastern Bay, the visitors roared into the match, running in two tries in the opening six minutes.


The Steamers regrouped though and soaked up the pressure before first five Dan Waenga crossed for the first of the Steamers' five tries. This first quickly followed by a forward pushover try awarded to John Pareanga.
The last 20 minutes of the first spell belonged to the Steamers as they made repeated attacks on the Taranaki defensive line.
Three further first half touchdowns to Lance MacDonald, Chad Tuoro and Grant McQuoid saw the Steamers take a 27-17 lead into the halftime break.

With both sides going to the bench in the second spell in order to give their squads game time - the second half developed into a battle of attrition. The only try of the second half came when Taranaki's David Smith intercepted a Steamers attack to scamper down the field and score under the posts.
While both teams continued the battle in the last 15 minutes, neither side could produce further points, with the match finishing a 27-24 victory to the Steamers.

One player to make a real impression in the early season hit-outs has been Lance MacDonald. Four tries to the flying winger, including a double against Hawke's Bay, testify to a player who is hungry for points after sitting on the sideline with injury last year.
While it is early days in the Steamers year, there are a multitude of positives to come from the preparatory matches. The Steamers tight five have continued on from last year taking few backwards steps with the loose forwards always looking for work.
A real feature has been the quick fire attacking moves when the Steamers have seized upon opposition mistakes to score tries. Seventeen touchdowns in the preliminary games testify to the Bay of Plenty team's desire for victory.
Now that the preliminary skirmishes are out of the way, the Steamers can now turn their attention to there opening ITM Cup match with Waikato next Saturday, July 31.

Pre-season results
BOP Steamers 27 (Dan Waenga, John Pareanga, Lance MacDonald, Chad Tuoro, Grant McQuoid tries; Waenga con) Taranaki 24 (Dave Smith 2, Andre Taylor; Willie Repia 2 cons pen; Beauden Barrett con)

BOP Steamers 35 Manawatu 10
BOP Steamers 44 Hawkes Bay 34