TANIELA Moa knows he's got fitness issues to address but he's just glad to be back on the rugby field.

The 25-year-old halfback made his Bay of Plenty debut in yesterday's pre-season game against Taranaki in Whakatane, coming on in the last half hour as the home side grabbed an impressive 27-24 win.

Wheezing and sore, the Auckland discard was grateful for getting a lifeline with the Steamers this season and is determined to repay his new province. "They've really given me a fresh opportunity in my career," Moa said. "I was in no man's land when I got the call and I jumped at the chance.

"My goal is just to play good for the Steamers, that's it. I'll do some fitness work in the next few weeks because the lungs are blowing pretty hard but I really liked the style we played today, with free-flowing rugby."

It was a little too free-flowing for the Steamers in the first 10 minutes, their sloppy tackling gifting Taranaki two quick tries.

For the second successive match, Bay found themselves 17-5 down, but the team regrouped, refused to panic and came back with vigour. A rampant forward pack paved the way for tries by Josh Hohneck, Lance MacDonald, Chad Tuoro and Grant McQuoid. Only four missed conversions by Dan Waenga kept the halftime score in check, 27-17 ahead.

Taranaki wing David Smith poached his second try - a 75-metre intercept with 13 minutes left - in the only points of a disjointed second half, although the visitors were effectively strangled out of the match long before then.

The most valuable aspect of the second spell was seeing Moa - who only arrived on Thursday - get on the field, along with prop James McGougan after his drawn-out back injury saga.

"I'm buggered but it was awesome," McGougan said. "That was the best 20 minutes of my life. I said to a few people before today that it was either going to be my comeback game or my retirement game. Either way, it was nice to do it on the ground where it all started for me."

It may all start again for Moa on the same ground too. Since he was called into the All Blacks as cover two years ago - though he didn't play - the chunky Tongan-born No9's career has been in a tailspin, unwanted by the Blues and then by his home province.

Although starting halfback Tuoro has been a decent fill-in with Josh Hall injured, Moa dripped class when he came on, throwing his 102-kilo frame into tackles and firing bullet passes off both hands.

He's also got more than enough motivation to succeed with the Steamers, in the form of 18-month-old son Kava jnr and new arrival Benjamin, now a month old. "It was quite hard when I first became a dad, juggling family life and rugby. There are a few sacrifices and my rugby probably suffered. It's my first time moving out of home. I've got my family moving down with me and now I'm not playing for myself but for my family."

Bay of Plenty start their ITM Cup campaign in a week against arch-rivals Waikato in Hamilton, having completed a clean-sweep of pre-season wins.

There were no more major injury scares out of yesterday's game, although All Black wing Lelia Masaga needed thumb surgery yesterday and is likely to miss the start of the competition.

Scores:
Bay of Plenty 27 (John Pareanga, Chad Tuoro, Lance MacDonald, Grant McQuoid, Dan Waenga tries; Waenga con) Taranaki 24 (David Smith 2, Andre Taylor tries; Willie Ripia 2 con, pen, Beauden Barrett con). HT: 27-17.