The return of Tyler Ardron and introduction of former Waikato and New Zealand under 20s lock Nick Ross are two of the key changes to the Steamers' lineup for their Mitre 10 Cup encounter with North Harbour this afternoon.

Ardron would in all probability have slotted back in anyway after his quick jaunt home to Canada for a family wedding, but the inclusion of Ross, son of former Bay player Craig, is a slightly more leftfield move, designed to help deal with the lineout issues that showed up in last week's 29-28 loss to Hawkes Bay.

'He's highly experienced in the art of lineouts,” says Clayton. 'We feel with the addition of those two people they'll give us some mobility, some big engines, and a lot more accuracy in the lineouts in particular.”

Ross, who has just returned from a three year stint in Japan, probably would have played earlier but has been nursing a broken hand. He will partner Aaron Carrol in the second row, meaning last week's combination of Kane Le'aupepe and Baden Wardlaw drop out of the 23.

Ardron will slot onto the blindside, meaning Tanerau Latimer returns to the bench. All going well, Clayton says, that will give him the chance to use the 82 match veteran to spell openside maestro Mitch Karpik.

'Tanerau and Mitch have both got through 80 minutes in the last two weeks so we're just mindful that we need to look after those blokes a little bit too.”

Another loose forward trojan who has got through a mountain of work this season is no. 8 Hoani Matenga, who will start once again.

'We just think that Hoani's getting better and better. He came to us a little bit underdone and he's played some big minutes but I think he's starting to get on top of his game. He hadn't played number 8 for a little while so he's getting his flow back in that position and he'll start there again this week.”

Luke Campbell gets a shot in the number 9 jersey, Clayton says. 'That's just to mitigate the fact that Richard Judd has played some big minutes and is feeling a little banged up.”

One of those bangs came in the process of scoring a try against Hawkes Bay. Clayton wasn't entirely happy with the late shot Judd took after touching down but took it philosophically that no action was deemed necessary by the officials.

A hamstring strain to Matt Garland has ruled him out, meaning a start for New Zealand sevens star Trael Joass. He'll wear the 13 jersey with Liam Steel moving to take Garland's place on the left wing.

After using some gentle rotation and trying a few different combinations in certain areas Clayton says the time is coming to settle on his preferred lineup.

'We've had a little bit of transition through our squad - just through sickness and injury, and mitigating against short turnarounds. So everyone's had a fair shake of the cherry, and I've just said to them this week, approaching the midway point in the season, that assuming everyone's fit and well the time for experimentation and rotation is nearing an end and we'll put our best team out on the park every week.”

He feels his side will have to give it their best shot to beat Premiership level North Harbour, despite the fact the hosts are backing up after going down to Canterbury on Wednesday night.

'They're coming off a couple of losses which never does a team any good when you play them – it makes them desperate and hungry.

'They might have lost to Canterbury but they showed where they're dangerous in unstructured play, they have a good kicking game, good organisation, and an experienced nine and 10.

'They'll potentially be feeling the effects of a couple of games within a week but they've got enough firepower and experience to be really dangerous and we'll have to be at our best to beat them.”

Bay of Plenty Steamers to take on North Harbour at QBE Stadium Albany this afternoon, kickoff 2:05 (appearances in brackets):

1. Solomona Sakalia (37), 2. Tom Crozier (2), 3. Ross Geldenhuys (4), 4. Nick Ross*, 5. Aaron Carroll (4), 6. Tyler Ardron (9), 7. Mitch Karpik (10), 8. Hoani Matenga (4), 9. Luke Campbell (20), 10. Mike Delany (76) ©, 11. Liam Steel (8), 12. Terrence Hepetema (23), 13. Trael Joass (4), 14. Fa'asiu Fuatai (4), 15. Chase Tiatia (30)

Reserves:
16. Angus MacDonald (3), 17. James Lay (14)**, 18. Jeff Thwaites (25), 19. Hugh Blake (22), 20. Tanerau Latimer (82) ©, 21. Richard Judd (14)**, 22. Jason Robertson (2), 23. Bailey Simonsson (1)

** Blazer game