MacDonald brilliance seals BOP win | Rotorua Sport | Surfing, Rugby, Soccer, Football, Cricket in Rotorua

A flurry of Bay debuts and hype around Reporoa's biggest day of rugby in yonks, Lance MacDonald's return from the rehabilitation wilderness almost slipped by unnoticed.

Unfortunately for MacDonald, if his intention was to come back to rep rugby quietly he undid it all in a flash of twinkle-toed brilliance, grabbing the final word with a 40m burst down the sideline on Friday as Bay of Plenty opened their 2010 campaign with a 35-10 win over Manawatu.

The former New Zealand colts star sealed his comeback by brushing past three tacklers for Bay's fifth and final try, adding a ray of warmth to the bitterly cold breeze sweeping off the Ikawhenua Ranges in the distance.

MacDonald, 24, spent all of last year rehabbing his right shoulder after a full reconstruction while doubling as the NPC's fastest waterboy, all the while wondering if he had what it took to fight his way back to the top.

"You do second guess yourself at times because it was my first proper injury and rehabbing without anything specific to train towards gets to you after a while.

"But I've done the time and brought it back pretty strong, to a point where I hardly feel it now. Putting the jersey on again today was pretty refreshing and to get the ball in the hands and get over the tryline after such a long time out was great."

The Steamers can be well pleased with their effort yesterday. Secure in the set pieces, with lock Culum Retallick, No 8 Luke Braid and flanker Luke Andrews prominent, they punched holes in Manawatu's defence and created space out wide for second-five Grant McQuoid to exploit.

Halfback Chad Tuoro scored first after a tap penalty and good lead-in work from Braid and Sam Cane, with first-five Dan Waenga setting McQuoid free for Bay's second and wing Ben Smith diving over in the corner for the third after scrum ball was moved wide fast. Waenga converted all three.

Braid's game ended after half-an-hour, sporting a deep gash to his right cheek, with wholesale personnel changes at halftime, Manawatu's spoiling tactics in the tackle and the biting cold negating much of Bay's impetus from there.

But they hammered away, mauling good metres through the forwards, and were rewarded with further tries to replacement first-five Phil Burleigh and MacDonald, with Karl Bryson pinching a consolation for the Turbos.

MacDonald said a week together in camp near Rotorua had set a clear template for the season.

"We had the grunt on Manawatu in the forwards today, which set a platform, but the things that worked well today were the things we'd worked on - putting phases together and getting tries off that."

With players still to slot back into the side, including All Blacks Tanerau Latimer, Lelia Masaga and Mike Delany, MacDonald agreed not everyone was going to be happy when the ITM Cup kicked off in three weeks.

"This is the first time in years there's been such massive competition for places, from 1 through to 15, and there's not too many who'll walk into a starting spot.

"It's going to be tough to crack the team each week and we all know we'll have to work for whatever chances we get."

Scorers: Bay of Plenty Steamers 35 (Grant McQuoid, Chad Tuoro, Ben Smith, Phil Burleigh, Lance MacDonald tries; Dan Waenga 3 cons; Nick McCashin 2 cons) Manawatu 10 (Karl Bryson try; Tomasi Cama con, Craig Clare pen). Halftime 23-3.