Tamanivalu defies the odds to face Canes

The Chiefs’ medical staff told Seta Tamanivalu that his knee injury could well sideline him for a few weeks. But the powerful midfielder knew better, he was going to ‘‘be back for the boys’’.

After taking a knock in the final regular season match against the Highlanders, Tamanivalu’s MCL injury ruled him out of the trip to Cape Town for the quarterfinal against the Stormers, and left his Super Rugby season potentially over.

But, such was the big man’s determination to be back on the park for the Chiefs, he put everything he had into his rehab while his team-mates were overseas, and is back at centre for Saturday night’s blockbuster semifinal against the Hurricanes in Wellington.

Tamanivalu’s niggle was a continuation from the knee issues which plagued him last year, so he probably knew what he was in for, even if the staff may have been more precautious.

"I don’t trust when they say I’m going to be out for weeks,’’ Tamanivalu said. ‘‘I have confidence that I’ll be back on time, I’ll be back for the boys.

‘‘I just worked hard on my rehab and all that, tried to do everything right, because I know they [his team-mates] were working hard in South Africa, so I tried my best here as well, doing rehab and working hard on my knee, get it better for this week.’’

Tamanivalu said he was telling his flatmate on Tuesday morning how excited he was as he readied to see ‘‘the boys’’ again that day, having set his alarm for 4.30am Sunday morning and watched the quarterfinal from home – which he said was pretty tough.

The 24-year-old, who made his All Blacks debut in last month’s series against Wales, is a very timely addition to the side, given that Stephen Donald has now joined Andrew Horrell and Charlie Ngatai in the casualty ward.

With his surging ball carries he is a handful for any defence – just ask the Hurricanes about the teams’ last meeting – where Tamanivalu carved off metres and scored two tries.

He’s not looking to repeat miracles, but simply play his part to get the Chiefs over the line and into the final.

‘‘Just trying to do my best for the team, not trying to do anything silly or trying to do more than what the team wants from me,’’ Tamanivalu said.

‘‘So I’m just going to focus on myself this week going into the big game.

‘‘Sitting outside a couple of years ago watching the Chiefs play in semifinals and finals and all that, it’s something that I always wanted to do for the Chiefs, play a Super Rugby final, that’s a goal, but we’ve got to focus this week playing the big semifinal, that’s our final this week.’’