It's just as well the Bay of Plenty isn't in the United States.

There could be a case for the "three strikes" law applying after the Steamers were tripped up for a third consecutive time by Hawke's Bay in a pre-season clash.

Following on from losses in 2004 and 2006, there were certainly plenty of repeat offences by the Steamers - enough for referee Kelvin Deaker to penalise the visitors two to one, allowing the Magpies the majority of possession and territory on way to a 17-12 win at McLean Park.

As far as warmup games go, ignore the scoreline. This was certainly a step up from the Steamers' effort a week ago against Manawatu.

And it should have been with the match carrying first-class status.

The scrum, with Super 14 strongmen Ben Castle and Simms Davison and form club hooker Ngarimu Simpkins together in the front row, was more solid and verging on first-division quality.

The lineout, bar an early over toss by Simpkins, was more effective even allowing some driving play with plenty of good two-handed takes by Culum Rettallick, Aidan Kuka and co.

However, the minuses were in competing and protecting the ball in contact, while the backline floundered and prospective hooker John Pareanga looks to have a serious arm injury.

Steamers coach Kevin Schuler said his side was guilty of being outmuscled at times by the Magpies.

"We didn't have a lot of possession at times - when we had the ball we showed we had some good go-forward.

"There were long patches in that second half where we defended and didn't do enough work to get that ball back off them. We were guilty of letting them come to us a bit.

"It was a night of possession and we didn't have it."

The Magpies have already played Manawatu and Taranaki so had fewer cobwebs to dust off.

Bay of Plenty created more clear scoring chances but with Charles Baxter's final pass, with the line open, finding the defence and Simpkins knocking the ball on while crossing the whitewash, they left some points on the park.

A loose Steamers pass, intended for Anthony Tahana, also found its way into the hands of Jason Kupa who put it down under the posts 60 metres later.

Hawke's Bay made the early play with prop Fakaanaua Taumalolo rampaging through some big inside channels.

Former Tasman and Canterbury representative George Naoupu was another to shine for the Magpies with ball in hand.

Schuler will be looking for more urgency from the Bay players in the tackle contest from here in. "I certainly wouldn't question the commitment out there. We've just got to get them on the ground a bit quicker and have a go at that ball," he said.

It's an obvious area the Steamers need to work on before they play their final pre-Air New Zealand Cup match against Waikato next Friday in Rotorua.

Schuler said they would name their competition squad on Monday so they had as much time as possible to prepare to meet the defending champions.

Scorers: Hawke's Bay 17 (Zac Guilford, Jason Kupa tries; Aayden Clarke pen, con) Bay of Plenty 12 (Rena Schuster, Ngarimu Simpkins tries; Mike Delany con). HT: 10-12.