CHIEFS PRAISE FIJIAN RUGBY
Chief Sam Cane applauds Fiji Rio Olympics gold medal win, tells young Fijians to be strong
Chiefs coach Dave Rennie and co-captain Sam Cane yesterday made special mention of Fijian rugby talent and have advised our young people to work hard and strive for excellence. Rennie, from a Cook Islands background and the first Pacific Islander to coach a Super Rugby team, said Fiji winning a gold medal at the Rio Olympics is testament of good planning and hard work.
Cane said Fijians need to work hard, stay fit and be strong
Rennie has named a strong team which includes Fijian Michael Leitch who starts at No. 8 against an unbeaten Crusaders in the Super Rugby showdown at the ANZ Stadium at 7.35pm tomorrow.
It will be a special moment for Leitch who will be playing his last game for his Chiefs fans here as he will be playing for the Sun-wolves next year. “I want to do my best and make my families and friends and all Fijians proud come Friday night,” Leitch said. Setareki Tamanivalu will start on the right wing for the Crusaders while teammate Manasa Mataele starts on the bench.
Gallagher Chiefs co-captain Sam Cane encourages the young Fijian rugby players to be hardworking and to always strive for excellence.
Cane has been named to start at openside flanker against the Crusaders tomorrow night at the ANZ Stadium in Suva.
Cane advised young Fijian rugby players to enjoy their rugby.
“To young Fijian players, I know they like playing rugby here just like in New Zealand because they enjoy it. And it’s important that they never forget that and to make it professional you got to be strong, keep fit and work your hardest,”Cane said.
“On top of that you have to be open to advice and coachable so people can improve you as a person or as a rugby player they better take these things on board and put them to use.”
The co-captain also congratulated the Vodafone Fijian 7s side for winning gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics. “I know there is so much talent here, we see them part of the Chiefs side in recent years and congratulation to the Fijian side taking home the gold medal from Rio Olympics. As from New Zealand point of view if we couldn’t do it but we were happy to see Fiji taking it home,” Cane said.
Chiefs coach Dave Rennie has named a formidable line-up to face the Crusaders for the first time this season. It features five changes to the starting 15 that defeated the Reds 46-17 in New Plymouth in Round 11.
There’s just one change in the forwards with Nathan Harris making his first start of the year at hooker. 25-year-old Harris, who re-signed this week with the Gallagher Chiefs until 2019, made a welcome return to Super Rugby two weeks ago following a long injury layoff. There are four changes to the backs with co-captain Aaron Cruden returning to start at first fiveeighth. Anton Lienert-Brown, who also re-signed with the Chiefs this week, moves to second five-eighth from centre. Sam McNicol is promoted from the bench to start in No. 13 and Tim Nanai-Williams has fully recovered from a shoulder injury sustained against the Hurricanes in Round 3 to start on the right wing. Head Coach Rennie said their focus was to play the full 80 minutes game. “No doubt Crusaders set piece and big men upfront being the catalyst for their performances.
“So it’s a solid base workout for our scrum and lineout. We need to provide some good ball and hopefully we can put them under pressure but they have been impressive last week.
“We are happy we got a good side on the field, had a good day and preparing and one more hit out going in for Friday night. “So we are happy with our preparation and happy with the squad we have assemble for Friday night,” Rennie said.
“With respect to the Crusaders , we just got to get it right for the 80 minutes.”
The Gallagher Chiefs team to play the BNZ Crusaders at 7.35pm tomorrow night at the ANZ Stadium.
Chiefs Team;
1. Kane Hames ,2. Nathan Harris,3. Nepo Laulala, 4. Dominic Bird, 5.Brodie Retallick, 6.Mitchell Brown, 7.Sam Cane( co-captain ),8. Michael Leitch, 9.Tawera Kerr-Bar low ,10. Aaron Crud en( co-captain ),11. James Lowe ,12. Anton Lienert-Brown,13.Sam McNicol,14.Tim Nanai-Williams 15.Damian McKenzie
Reserves;16. Hika Elliot, 17.Siegfried Fisi’ihoi,18.Atu Moli, 19.Taleni Seu, 20.Liam Mess am ,21. Jonathan Tau mate i ne ,22. Stephen Donald ,23. Shaun Stevenson.