Double boost for the Chiefs
While the Hurricanes sit and wait on crocked skipper Dane Coles, the Chiefs are hailing a double dose of good news on the injury front ahead of Saturday night’s Super Rugby semifinal in Wellington.
Co-captain Sam Cane is on track to play, presenting no symptoms after a concussion in the quarterfinal against the Stormers, while centre Seta Tamanivalu is set to make a comeback, after missing the trip to South Africa due to a knee injury. The powerful midfielder’s return is timely given Stephen Donald has been ruled out for a week with a lat injury.
There is even a chance loose forward Michael Leitch could be back, having broken his thumb against the Rebels on May 21. The Japan international has been doing plenty of running in his time off, and is now just getting the thumb used to gripping things again, going through a few passing drills in Wednesday morning’s light indoor session.
The Chiefs arrived back from South Africa late Monday night, spending Tuesday adjusting their body clocks back to local time, before managing a slightly shorter than normal workload leading up to their trip to the capital. It’s an arduous travel schedule, but something which isn’t made much of in the group.
"We don’t talk about it much to be honest, we just get on and do it,’’ Cane said.
‘‘The group seems to travel really well, funnily enough. I’m not sure if it’s cause we’ve got a young group or what, but we travel and everyone gets on really well and then we turn up at training and everyone’s got the right attitude, which is bloody pleasing.’’
Cane said he was feeling good following his head knock, which wasn’t an obvious one to even a well-trained eye.
‘‘My dad watches rugby pretty closely and he said he couldn’t even spot it,’’ Cane quipped. ‘‘It was just before halftime when they scored, a guy just stepped back, I came in to assist and we just hit heads.’’
While the TV commentators gave the impression Cane was fighting with the medical staff in the tunnel at the break to be let back on the park, he said there was a bit more to that.
‘‘I was the one who actually went to the doc at halftime and said ‘I’ve taken a little bit of a bang’ so I went and did the tests,’’ he said.
‘‘I wasn’t happy, obviously, about not playing the second half, but once I caught my breath and composed myself on the bench I thought ‘No, that was a good decision’ and thanked the doc for it.’’
The concussion protocols mean Cane has to take graduated steps this week.
He had a light bike on Tuesday, had to get through some running on Wednesday afternoon, then train without contact on Thursday, while there’s also memory reaction tests.
‘‘You’d like to be involved as much as you can in a week like this week, but the protocols are set in place and they’re there for a reason,’’ Cane said.
‘‘I’ve seen enough guys in this team who’ve struggled with head knocks and know a few personally who’ve had to retire, so there’s no point fudging it.’’
Cane’s inclusion means a tasty battle between him and fellow All Blacks openside Ardie Savea, after the duo had a good battle for the black No 7 jersey in last month’s series against Wales. Though the Chiefs man was keen to play down his matchup.
‘‘To be honest, performing in a semifinal, doing my part for the team, is what’s motivating,’’ he said.
‘‘I don’t reckon players get into one-on-one battles too much. All you can do is focus on yourself and get your team across the line. And generally the team that does that the best, the individual battles tend to go that way.’’