Chiefs to play four but rest three ABS
The Chiefs will start four of their All Blacks squad members in their final-round regular season Super Rugby match against the Brumbies in Hamilton on Saturday, but will keep the busy trio of Brodie Retallick, Sam Cane and Anton Lienert-brown on ice for the playoffs.
Coach Dave Rennie had telegraphed the move earlier this week, it was yesterday confirmed the Chiefs will give those battered boys another week to freshen, after their big workload in an intensive series against the British and Irish Lions.
There are a couple of other experienced campaigners who will miss the game, with lock Dominic Bird being rested after taking a head knock at training early in the week, and utility back Tim Nanai-williams still on international duty for Samoa - who face Fiji on Saturday in their Pacific Nations Cup match, which doubles as a World Cup qualifier.
Bird - the two-test former All Black - should be ok for next weekend’s quarterfinal, with assistant coach Neil Barnes playing down any worries around the health of their lineout caller.
"While he didn’t have major concussion symptoms, it’s just one of those ones [where] we’re acting on the precautionary side and giving him the week off to make sure he’s 100 per cent," he said.
But, despite the absences, All Blacks squad members Nathan Harris, Tawera Kerr-barlow, Aaron Cruden and Damian Mckenzie, having had little to no involvement against the Lions, will all start the match at FMG Stadium Waikato (kickoff 5.15pm), and the Chiefs will be banking on still having enough firepower to defeat an understrength Brumbies side.
Knowing they have a home quarterfinal in the bag next weekend for topping the Aussie conference, Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham has himself opted to rest several players for the trek across the ditch, with 12 changes from the team which lost to the Reds last weekend.
Already assured an away quarterfinal, the Chiefs will hope to meet the Brumbies again in the playoffs in Canberra next weekend, rather than the Stormers in Cape Town (the Chiefs need to win then hope the Hurricanes don’t beat the Crusaders).
While Retallick missed the Chiefs’ last Super Rugby fixture - the win over the Hurricanes in Wellington on June 9 with concussion and was also rested for a match earlier in the campaign, and co-captain Cane missed the first two rounds with an ankle injury and another game with concussion, it’s actually Lienert-brown and Bird who have been the mainstays, playing every match.
The revamped midfield will see Charlie Ngatai - who, for the first time since his concussion issues, got through 80 minutes when lining up for New Zealand Maori against the Lions in Rotorua on June 17 - pair up with Alex Nankivell, who will get his first start.
The match could well be the the Chiefs’ last at home for the season, and a last on home turf for the overseas-bound Leitch, Kerr-barlow, Cruden, James Lowe and the not-selected Hika Elliot, while Stephen Donald will be marking his 100th Super Rugby fixture - having celebrated the Chiefs ton last month.
Meanwhile in what appears a mismatch on paper, the Highlanders host the Reds in Dunedin on Friday night to kickstart the final round of this year’s Super Rugby regular season.
The bookmakers aren’t giving the 4-10 Reds a chance and good luck finding any Highlanders fans with sweaty palms induced by frayed nerves. With the 10-4 Highlanders all but assured of the seventh seed, they’re more worried about whether they will travel to Johannesburg to play the Lions or to Christchurch to play the Crusaders in the quarterfinals. Lions Brumbies Chiefs Sharks