Leitch wants to stay at Chiefs
Michael Leitch sees his future with the Chiefs with the World Cup in Japan on the horizon.
The Japanese captain will start his third game of the season at No 8 against the Bulls in Hamilton tonight, as the Chiefs bid to go five from five.
Super Rugby got the best out of Leitch ahead of the 2015 World Cup in England, where Japan shocked everyone to beat South Africa and win three of their four pool games.
‘‘Hopefully I can stay for another couple of years with the [2019] World Cup coming up soon,’’ the 28-year-old said.
New Zealand Super Rugby sides can each contract two foreign players and they can only be contracted for one year at a time.
With Eddie Jones as head coach, Leitch led Japan to their finest hour but his heroic efforts would ultimately take its toll.
Japan didn’t progress from the pool stages to the quarterfinals and Leitch went back to play for his Japanese club, Toshiba Brave Lupus, before returning to the Chiefs last year.
It meant Leitch hardly had a rest long before and after the World Cup, and injury inevitably
Damian McKenzie, Shaun Stevenson, Anton Lienert-Brown, Johnny Faauli, James Lowe, Aaron Cruden (co-c), Tawera Kerr-Barlow; Michael Leitch, Sam Cane (co-c), Liam Messam, Brodie Retallick, Dominic Bird, Nepo Laulala, Hika Elliot, Siegfried Fisi’ihoi.
Brayden Mitchell, Kanes Hames, Atu Moli, Taleni Seu, Mitch Karpik, Finlay Christie, Stephen Donald, Solomon Alaimalo.
Jesse Kriel, Travis Ismaiel, Jan Serfontein, Burger Odeendaal, Jamba Ulengo, Handre Pollard, Rudy Paige; Arno Botha, Nick de Jager, Ruan Steenkamp, Lood de Jager, RG Snyman, Trevor Nyakane, Adriaan Strauss (c), Pierre Schoeman. Edgar Marutlulle, Lizo Gqoboka, Jacobie Adriaanse, Jason Jenkins, Jannes Kirsten, Piet van Zyl, Tian Schoeman, Warrick Gelant.
Chiefs: Reserves: Bulls: Reserves:
struck. Leitch broke his thumb in May and was ruled out for two months.
He remains a key cog in the Chiefs forward pack that is blessed with depth.
Liam Messam plays his 150th Chiefs game at blindside flanker alongside Sam Cane, with Mitch Karpik on the bench ahead of Mitch Brown, Lachlan Boshier and Tom Sanders, who’ve all played their part so far this season.
That eases the pressure on Leitch to an extent, who was absent in round one’s win over the Highlanders because of a manda-
tory stand down period playing in Japan.
Leitch also missed the win over the Rebels in Melbourne two weeks ago through suspension after his high tackle on Hurricanes hooker Ricky Riccitelli.
The Bulls charge into Hamilton having lost three from four and their solitary win was against the Sunwolves (34-21) in Pretoria in round four.
They lost 38-14 to the Blues in Albany last weekend and they’ve won just one of 10 matches against the Chiefs in New Zealand since 1996.
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