Bay of Plenty lifted their intensity in the second half to pull away to 31-19 victory over Otago in the national provincial rugby championship.
The opening spell in Rotorua was a lacklustre affair, with both sides struggling for continuity.
But the Steamers, with lock Culum Retallick and flanker Sam Cane prominent, gained ascendancy up front in the second half.
They ended up racking up three tries, two to prop Tristan Moran, to bounce back from their round-one defeat to Taranaki.
The contest turned on the sinbinning of Otago replacement flanker TJ Ioane in the 52nd minute.
Ioane was shown the yellow card three minutes after coming on, singled out for his team's repeated infringing.
With a man up, the Steamers grabbed two converted tries to break out to a 26-12 lead.
The first came when their decision to turn down a gift three points on Ioane's departure paid dividends, as they rumbled over from the ensuing lineout, with Moran dotting down.
Next it was the turn of No.8 Luke Braid to finish off a period of pressure.
Moran's second touchdown with 13 minutes to go virtually sealed victory, before Otago replacement back Tony Ensor grabbed a consolation touchdown for the visitors.
The Steamers lost skipper Jamie Nutbrown in the 10th minute, the halfback going off with a dislocated shoulder.
The boot provided all the points of a scrappy opening spell, which was punctuated by plenty of spilled ball.
There were also numerous infringements and Steamers first five-eighths Nick McCashin and Otago opposite Hayden Parker each landed four penalties to leave the sides locked 12-12 at half-time.
NZN