A PACK WITH PUNCH
The Chiefs have built an impressive pack that has the potential to get the better of every team they play – including the Crusaders. Their preferred starting XV will have Hames, Harris, Laulala, Retallick and Dominic Bird in the tight five, with Cane at openside and then a choice of Liam Messam, Mitchell Brown, Tyler Ardron, Taleni Seu and Luke Jacobsen filling the other two jersies.
With a handful of other seasoned forwards such as Moli, Lachlan Boshier, Mitchell Graham, Michael Allardice and Mitch Karpik also in the squad, they have depth to get through what will be a long, hard campaign.
Winning the ball will not be a problem. The question for the Chiefs is how much do they want to utilise the strength of their pack?
Their scrum could be a weapon and they have ball carriers aplenty who can bash up the middle close to the ruck and make good progress.
The option is there for the Chiefs to play tight, use their scrum to milk penalties and work the driving maul off their rock solid lineout.
That hasn’t been their chosen method in the past but may be something we see more of in 2018 as it worked so well for the Crusaders in 2017.
The other quality that their pack brings is defensive edge. There isn’t a more prolific tackler in world rugby than Cane and the likes of Retallick, Harris and Laulala know how to get off the line and use their explosive power.
The Chiefs have the ability to adapt their gameplan into a low-risk, tight, driving game if needs be, which will be a genuine strength come the latter rounds when the weather turns.