Bay of Plenty's Tyler Ardron receives the ball during the round eight Mitre 10 Cup match against Southland. Photo / Getty Images
Bay of Plenty's Tyler Ardron receives the ball during the round eight Mitre 10 Cup match against Southland. Photo / Getty Images
It was a scene that sadly encapsulates the Bay of Plenty Steamers' season in the Mitre 10 Cup.
At the final major training session before their final match of the year, veteran first five-eighth Mike Delany stood on the sidelines with his left arm in a sling after a recent operation on his shoulder.
Nearby, Kaleb Trask was sitting on the team trailer with an ice pack wrapped around his right knee.
With another first five-eighth Jason Robertson incurring a season-ending leg injury in the match against Manawatu, it means coach Clayton McMillan may have to use yet another player in the pivotal No 10 jersey for the match against Northland at Tauranga Domain tomorrow.So if Trask isn't able to play, the versatile Chase Tiatia will move from fullback to first five, having also appeared on the wing this year.
Tiatia moving closer to the scrum means Cole Forbes, in his first year out of Tauranga Boys' College and a key player in the champion Bay of Plenty Under-19 team, will debut at fullback.
"We don't like to hand out a Steamers jersey for kicks and giggles," says head coach Clayton McMillan.
Bay of Plenty Steamers head coach Clayton McMillan. Photo / Getty Images
"Yeah we're having to go to the well a little bit now on the back of our southern tour and three games in nine days. We're a bit beaten up, so some young guys are going to get an opportunity on the weekend."
Bailey Simonsson, the right winger who scored a try in each match down south, is also injured. Therefore another under-19 star Emoni Narawa is set to play his first match at this level too.
"That decision has been made easier by the fact there are injured people but with our semifinal aspirations now gone we can use this an opportunity to see where some of this exciting talent sits."
The strong running under-19 midfielder Lalomilo Lalomilo has already made a couple of appearances off the bench during the matches against Otago and Southland, and with Trask already a regular in the starting 15, the next generation of Steamers is beginning to emerge.
But McMillan warns against high expectations.
"Take nothing away from what they achieved at the under-19s, but this is a significant step up and some of those young fellas that have played have already learnt that," he says.
"So we'll go in with a simple plan and a mindset around letting them express themselves, and whether they do that will be for all to see on Saturday."
The match closes the Steamers' 2018 campaign.
Northland may have been whipped by Waikato last weekend, but they somehow scored 4 tries in their 71-28 thrashing.
That bonus point has put them out of Bay of Plenty's reach on the points table.
McMillan isn't mincing words about the year's outcome.
"The fact that we haven't made the semifinals, despite our injuries and other stuff, is just unacceptable."
