Bay of Plenty head south to Palmerston North tomorrow looking for a dry track and a morale-boosting win after falling to Hawke's Bay in their third ITM Cup buildup game last night at Napier's McLean Park.

Fresh from a split preseason series against Taranaki, the Steamers failed to contain the Magpies' greater enthusiasm or master a waterlogged playing surface, going down 27-10 in the third of their four buildup games.

They get a chance to atone on Friday in Palmerston North when they take on the Manawatu Turbos, nine days out from their ITM Cup opener against Counties-Manukau in Pukekohe.

The Steamers, minus most of their Super rugby stars who are still convalescing, trailed 17-5 last night (the game was switched from an early afternoon kickoff), with halfback Taniela Moa scoring the side's lone try in the first 40.

Hawke's Bay dominated through tries to Isaac Paewai and Ryan McLeod, with Andrew Horrell converting both and kicking a penalty. First-five Chris Noakes dotted down in the second half but Hawke's Bay still won the numerical battle, with Fetu Barber notching their third try and replacement kicker Daniel Kirkpatrick adding the extras through a penalty and conversion.

Steamers assistant coach Paul Feeney said there was no quibbling with the outcome, with Bay of Plenty out-thought.

"They outpassioned us and dominated us for most of the game and deserved to win it.

They executed better than us and we failed to turn them around and play with any territory."

As was the case with the previous two preseason games in Katikati and New Plymouth, constant rain fell in Napier yesterday, creating a playing surface that was greasy and waterlogged.

"Drizzle fell the entire 80 minutes and it was very much like Katikati - water across the field and very difficult conditions to play any sort of rugby in. It was pick-and-go and one-off rugby concentrated mainly around the ruck area."

Of deeper concern for Feeney and head coach Sean Horan is the injury toll, with lock Leighton Price taken to Napier Hospital with a suspected dislocated elbow, prop Josh Hohneck taking a knock to the arm that forced him off, Pingi Talaapitaga invalided with a shoulder injury and Lance MacDonald (ankle) failing to go the distance.

"It was disjointed with that many changes but we need to react to that better," Feeney said. "We'll look at the video to get a clearer picture of what went wrong, but we only got together [on Monday] as a squad for the first time with our Super rugby players back.

"It is just a start and as long as we learn from tonight then we should be able to right a few wrongs [in Palmerston North] on Friday."

Last night's scorers:

Hawke's Bay 27 (Isaac Paewai, Ryan McLeod, Fetu Barber tries; Andrew Horrell 2 cons, pen, Daniel Kirkpatrick pen, con) Bay of Plenty Steamers 10 (Taniela Moa, Chris Noakes tries). Halftime: 17-5.