Rugby: New-look Steamers begin preseason

Bay of Plenty lock Tim Bond in action against Auckland last year. Photo / File

Bay of Plenty Steamers will play their first preseason game today when Auckland pay them a visit at Whakatane's Rugby Park.

All Blacks flanker Sam Cane is set to make a rare appearance in the Steamers jersey, as he eases his way back into playing after a tough Super Rugby campaign with the Chiefs.

The Steamers have a new-look team this year with 15 uncapped players in their 35-man squad, and a new head coach in Clayton McMillan.

McMillan said the thing he wanted to see from his side this afternoon was a desire to do the jersey proud.

"Being the first game, I want to see players excited about pulling a Steamers jersey on," he said.

"The result is probably secondary to seeing a couple of things in the game."

He said the match would give players an opportunity to put their hand up for selection in the starting team when the ITM Cup begins on Friday, August 14 [a home match against North Harbour].

McMillan said he would be taking the full squad to Whakatane today but would give those players involved in the Baywide premier club final last weekend limited minutes or rest them completely.

"Everyone will be over there but not everyone will play. The guys who played at the weekend will have a smaller role to play [against Auckland] to give them more time to freshen up."

Fortunately, he said, none of the Steamers players involved in the club final between Tauranga Sports and Te Puke last weekend had pulled up with injuries.

McMillan says they had not been doing too much work as a playing group, since they named their squad on July 12 up until the Baywide club competition wrapped up at the weekend.

He said it was important for the integrity of the club competition the Steamers players were allowed to focus on their clubs during the play-offs.

However, he said most of the players had been involved in the high-performance group during the year, and a huge amount of work had already gone into the upcoming ITM Cup season.

"The majority of work we have been doing had been done prior to the team being named a few weeks ago."

The Steamers have one more preseason match against Manawatu at the Tauranga Domain next Thursday afternoon.

Bay of Plenty
1. Solomona Sakalia, 2. Joe Royal, 3. Pingi Tala'apitagi, 4. Culum Retallick (c), 5. Keepa Mewett, 6. Shahn Eru, 7. Sam Cane, 8. Carl Axtens (c), 9. Papa Wharewera, 10. Nick Evemy, 11. Terrence Hepetema, 12. Lalakai Foketi, 13. Chase Tiatia, 14. Tino Nemani, 15. Te Rangi Fraser. Reserves: 16. Seb Siataga, 17. Aidan Ross, 18. Jeff Thwaites, 19. Troy Callander, 20. Te Aihe Toma, 21. Dan Hollinshead, 22. Caleb Hall, 23. Leroy van Dam, 24. Whaimotu Craft-Chemis, 25. Siegfried Fisi'ihoi.

The game
Bay of Plenty Steamers v Auckland.
Rugby Park, Whakatane, today, 2.30pm.
Entry: Adults $10, students $5, under 5s free.