Bay of Plenty have gone shopping for props after changes to the ITM Cup competition.
The New Zealand Rugby Union has approved eight reserves for the competition, which starts in July, forcing teams to field an entire front row on the bench.
Compounding the problem for the Steamers was James McGougan's departure
for Otago last week, while Joe Savage left last year to live in Perth.
"It changes the whole dynamic and while we've got some good up-and-coming props, losing James McGougan was a big blow," Steamers coach Sean Horan said.
"We're probably looking at recruiting one or two. We're working through that at the moment and we're doing a lot of work with our existing guys."
It's believed the Steamers are close to signing a current Super Rugby prop, possibly in a straight swap for McGougan.
The Steamers got away with only four props last year and only Josh Hohneck - who played all 13 games - and Tristan Moran are still around. Australian-raised Pingi Talaapitaga has been contracted this season, while the form props of the Baywide club competition are Tauranga Sports' Kane Hames and Whakarewarewa's Wade Pereira.
Other club props who could put their hands up are Mark Nicolaas (Te Puke), Cory Marsters (Rotoiti) and Rangataua's Ray Brown, although Brown has been linked with Counties-Manukau.
With the 10-week ITM Cup competition condensed into just six weeks, the NZRU canvassed provincial coaches, who told them they feared for the durability of the front-row above all.
The IRB changed its rules some years ago to allow countries to have eight-man benches and this has been taken on by a number of European competitions.
The coaches also requested rolling substitutions - which was declined - but teams would be allowed to stay on the road between certain away games.
"We took it to the board, with management recommendations saying it sounds sensible to have an extra prop on the reserves bench," NZRU general manager of professional rugby Neil Sorensen was reported to have said this week.
"We did the numbers and said yes, we can pay for that 23rd player. We said no to rolling substitutions and that was based on the feedback we got from the provincial unions."
