Bay of Plenty Steamers
| Steamers | |
|---|---|
| Governing Body | Bay of Plenty Rugby Union |
| League | ITM Cup |
| Head Coach | Clayton McMillan |
| Captain |
Culum Retallick Carl Axtens |
| Latest Placing | 4th Championship (2015) |
The Bay of Plenty Steamers are the top representative team under the Bay of Plenty Rugby Union in New Zealand. They have competed in the ITM Cup since 2006. They have a total of 21 All Blacks, the latest being Nathan Harris in 2014. They are coached by Clayton McMillan.
On 23 July, the Steamers named their squad for the 2016 Mitre 10 Cup. No team captain was announced.
Denotes team captain, 
Denotes that a player is unavailable due to injury, Bold denotes player is internationally capped.
Leigh Hughes was named as injury cover.
Bay of Plenty were the inaugural winners of the NPC in 1976.
Bay of Plenty-based players were amongst the most prominent in the formative years of the game, but it was not until 1911 that the Bay of Plenty union was fully affiliated to the national body. Up until this time the BOP union was included within the South Auckland union boundaries. The union achieved its first national representation when A.L. McLean was selected for the All Blacks in 1921. McLean was the first of 16 men who have represented New Zealand while wearing the blue and gold hoops, Sam Cane is the latest to represent the Steamers at international level, making his debut against Ireland in 2012. As a heartland of Maori rugby the region has produced a large number of Maori All Blacks.
Bay of Plenty has a proud history of rising to the occasion for major matches, on many occasions, often as part of combined teams in the first half of the 20th century, the Bay has pushed touring teams to the limit in memorable encounters that have ranked as the toughest provincial matches on tour. Although often gallant in defeat the Bay has also recorded some memorable victories over stronger opposition – the 1982 Wallabies were thrashed by 40–16 in Rotorua a week after having defeated the All Blacks, and again in 1990 the same nation was lowered 12–4.
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