The Steamers have lost some senior figures that may make it tough for them to bounce back into the Premiership.
The Steamers lost three close games last year that ended up with them being relegated. They feel they have learned plenty from that bitter experience. NIGEL YALDEN with the story.
The Big Picture
Getting relegated is always a bitter pill to swallow in any sport. However the after taste would have been even tarter for Bay of Plenty given the nature in which they dropped last season.
In their final three games, the Steamers succumbed in eminently winnable encounters, with losing margins of one, three and one point respectively consigning them to the Championship.
Little surprise that coach Kevin Schuler has highlighted the ruthless closing out of games as a big focus this season.
Another key area to a quick rebound lies up front, where what little experience this team has resides.
Blues lock Culum Retallick will captain the side in which he, Chiefs hooker Nathan Harris and Highlanders prop Kane Hames are the key men for a tight five that must find dominance given the relative youth behind them.
With Mr Heart- and- Soul Tanerau Latimer heading to Japan, loose forwards Hamish Gosling, Joe Tupe and Carl Axtens are going to have to elevate their games to compensate for Latimer’s departure and the likely absence of All Black flanker Sam Cane.
But it’s the backs that have been hammered the most with Chris Noakes, Phil Burleigh and Kendrick Lynn all taking up Northern Hemisphere contracts. Paul Morris and Dan Hollinshead, in his first year out of Tauranga Boys College, will split first- five duties with Teddy Stanaway, Doug Edwards and Tongan sevens representative Siaosi Iongi to provide midfield punch for exciting outsides Tino Nemani, Kimami Sitauti and Leroy van Dam to run off. Coach Kevin Schuler says this team wants to attack and if the forwards get it right, this young backline will do that all day long.
Vision Statement We want a mind- set of relentlessness. We want this team, like all good Bay teams of old, to never say die and just keep playing, keep attacking right through to the end of every 80 minutes. Head coach Kevin Schuler
Rising Star
Jono Kitto is yet another immensely talented number nine out of the Canterbury halfback factory who has chosen to move away from the land of Red’n’Black in search of playing time.
When he gets those opportunities for the Steamers, you will see a very fit young man ( Kitto recorded a 20.6 in the beep test during Chiefs pre- season conditioning) with good vision, a great temperament and a well- rounded game tailor- made for provincial rugby and, one suspects, the level above it too.
Old Dog
As weird as it is not be typing the name Tanerau Latimer for this, Bay of Plenty do have a worthy standard- setter to fill Latimer’s boots in the form of lock Josh Sole. The 34- year- old Sole won’t go down in rugby history as the flashiest second rower ever seen, but he’s proven in long career, which includes 47 tests for Italy, that he’ll turn up ready to give his all, be it training or game day, the way a seasoned professional does.
New Arrivals
While the Steamers are relying on the core of last year’s squad, they did acquire the talented trio of hard- grafting Manawatu flanker Hamish Gosling, 2012 New Zealand Under 20 halfback Jono Kitto and Leroy van Dam, an outside back in the 2013 New Zealand Under 20s.
However as good as those arrivals are, it does little to hide the massive loss of experience that will be felt through the departures of Latimer ( Toshiba) Chris Noakes ( London Irish) Phil Burleigh ( Edinburgh) and Kendrick Lynn ( Lyon).