Last year Mike Delany was the go-to man for Bay of Plenty, his match-winning deeds vaulting him into an All Black berth by season's end.

It speaks volumes for the growth of the 2010 team that Delany saw fit to apologise for his goal-kicking woes on Saturday, yet his Steamers still rolled favourites Southland 33-22.

In glorious sunshine and with a boisterous 11,000-strong Baypark crowd behind them, Bay of Plenty used flair and try-scoring brilliance to leap out to a big lead, then eased home with the odd heart palpitation thrown in.

It could have been much more comfortable - Delany shanked five of his eight attempts at goal - but the five competition points against one of the season's best teams more than made up for such trivial matters.

"To come out with five points against a team like Southland is just awesome," the first-five said. "We're happy that we can score tries and we're bringing that Bay style of rugby back where anyone can have a crack and we'll back each other's decisions and we're coming out on top. If I get my kicks, it will make things even easier for us."

Delany's radar has been slightly askew since he returned from a long layoff from shoulder surgery but the direction he's brought to the backline has more than made up for it.

He skipped through the Southland defence to score just two minutes into Saturday's game and added the conversion but couldn't land another as Bay's use of attacking width left all further attempts near the touchline.

"There were kicks out there that I'd usually back myself to get. It's just a technical thing - I was blowing a bit - and it's something I need to work on if I want to play at a higher level."

Bay of Plenty's firepower was there. Lelia Masaga strolled over after 10 minutes after a classy cut-out pass from halfback Taniela Moa, who was a constant menace to Southland, taking the wing's tally to 10 for the season. And when fullback Toby Arnold ran on to a bounce pass and scythed through, the home team had a handy 20-3 half-time lead.

Five minutes into the second half they had their ninth bonus point of the season when No8 Colin Bourke picked up a loose ball and sent a no-look pass to Moa, who scooted away to score.

Southland first-five James Wilson crossed but Bourke replied immediately with a well-deserved five-pointer from a maul.

Both teams played 10 second-half minutes with 14 men as loosehead props Jamie Mackintosh (Southland) and Josh Hohneck (Bay of Plenty) exchanged punches and that spurred the visitors, who crossed again through replacements Seminar Manu and Brayden Mitchell.

Memories of Tasman a week earlier started resurfacing but Delany put the game out of reach with a late penalty. One thing he won't be apologising for is encouraging his team to have a crack.

"The boys are having a bit of fun out there - we don't want to go into our shells. We just want to play footy and we were conscious of the big crowd that had turned up to watch us so we didn't want to play negatively.

"We're in a good space at the moment and it just makes last week's result hurt even more."