Leitch boost for the Chiefs
Rugby: Experienced loose forward Michael Leitch has recovered from his broken thumb and been named on the bench for the Chiefs’ Super Rugby semifinal against the Hurricanes in Wellington on Saturday night.
It is one of three changes the Chiefs have made for the match at Westpac Stadium, with Seta Tamanivalu getting over a knee injury to come back into the starting lineup, Tawera KerrBarlow given the nod for the runon side, and co-captain Sam Cane retaining his place after recovering from concussion in last weekend’s quarterfinal win over the Stormers in Cape Town.
Leitch was considered a touchand-go prospect for this weekend, having not played since sustaining his injury against the Rebels in Hamilton on May 21. But with plenty of conditioning during his layoff, it was just about whether the thumb was ready for contact.
The 27-year-old Japanese national captain’s experience will be a boon for the Chiefs. He replaces Tevita Koloamatangi in the reserves, and coach Dave Rennie is delighted to have him back.
‘‘Obviously he’s pretty excited, and he’s an important part of this group, very experienced, and, big game, you want the big guns out there,’’ Rennie said. ‘‘So we’re pretty excited. I’m not sure how many minutes he’ll play at this stage, but we know he’s got a fair few in him, he’s in pretty good nick.’’
Tamanivalu missed the trip to South Africa for the quarterfinal due to an MCL injury, but he returns at centre, with Anton Lienert-Brown shifting to second five-eighth, and Stephen Donald ruled out for a week with a lat injury.
‘‘I think we made the right call last week, leave Seta at home, we could have taken a punt and he would have been close. But he’s good to go,’’ Rennie said.
Kerr-Barlow has been given starting duties ahead of Brad Weber, as the pair continue their rotation. Following the international break Kerr-Barlow was on the bench against the Crusaders, before starting against the Reds and Highlanders, then coming from the reserves last weekend.
‘‘It’s been a horses for courses thing,’’ Rennie said. ‘‘Obviously playing the Stormers last week was a lot about playing at pace, and that’s a big part of Brad’s game, his ability to challenge round the edges, and his speed. Obviously Tawera’s physicality - he’s got a great defensive game - and we think that’ll be pretty important in those inside channels.’’
Loose forward Tom Sanders is under a slight cloud, with what looked to be a hand injury, but is expected to take the park.
Another point of interest is that Siegfried Fisi’ihoi will cover tighthead prop, having been the man at the centre of controversy the last time the teams met, in the capital on April 23. That game, won by the Chiefs 28-27, finished with uncontested scrums after the Chiefs lost Atu Moli and Siate Tokolahi to injury, then, with their scrum getting marched backwards, opted to play with 14 players because they felt it was too big a risk to play regular loosehead Fisi’ihoi on the tighthead side, despite him having played there at NPC level.
After that game, Fisi’ihoi wasn’t used in the following two matches ahead of a bye, before covering tighthead in the next two fixtures, loosehead in four games after that, then tighthead last weekend.
‘‘Obviously we found from that game you need to make sure that you have someone who can play both sides,’’ Rennie said. ‘‘So we’ve worked really hard on Ziggy.
‘‘Our whole front row’s worked really hard, Hoefty’s [Carl Hoeft] done a great job.’’
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