Minimal injury let-up for Chiefs despite bye
Despite a well-timed early bye just two games into their Super Rugby season, there hasn’t been much letup on the injury front for the Chiefs, as they ready for their first home game of the year.
After missing the gutsy 27-21 victory over the Blues in Auckland two Fridays back, lock Brodie Retallick (poke in the eye at training) and first five-eighth/fullback Marty McKenzie (concussion) are both fit to face the Bulls in Hamilton on Friday night, but that’s the only good news coach Colin Cooper had to report pre-training yesterday afternoon.
It still leaves an extensive list in the casualty ward, with both fullback Charlie Ngatai (knee) and lock Dominic Bird (shoulder) working their way back to full fitness after suffering injuries in the season-opener against the Crusaders. Bird is still a bit of a question mark but Cooper said Ngatai was likely to miss next Saturday’s match against the Sunwolves in Tokyo then be ready to face the Highlanders in Hamilton on March 30.
After going down in the warmup against the Blues, outside back Shaun Stevenson is still getting his knee assessed as to whether or not he’ll require a quick tidy-up operation (four to five weeks recovery) or be out longer term, while there is still a big unknown around the state of prop Kane Hames, who has been suffering from what has been described as a ‘mystery illness’ and hasn’t taken the field this season.
The All Blacks loosehead is again unavailable for this week and has been visiting specialists, but Cooper wasn’t going into any level of detail around the condition.
‘‘To give him the privacy, it’s not appropriate for me to comment on what that’s about, but he’s making good progress,’’ he said.
With Nepo Laulala having broken an arm against the Blues and Atu Moli subsequently having his season ended by complications with a quad hematoma which required surgery, it’s left the Chiefs’ front row stocks decimated, with Mitchell Graham (leg) and Sefo Kautai (foot) still also sidelined.
That has seen Bay of Plenty tighthead Jeff Thwaites called in this week, joining fellow late callups Angus Ta’avao and Karl Tu’inukuafe, with Aidan Ross the only remaining prop from he original squad.
‘‘I’m pretty confident with the men that will front ... it’s just about having a lot of faith in the backup,’’ said Cooper, who was philosophical despite the stunning casualty rate around his big men.
‘‘That’s the game we’re in,’’ he said. ‘‘Coming back [to Super Rugby] a second time round, it’s got more brutal, it’s got faster. And I’ve already said, I’ve got 50-odd players, back in the day I had 28.
‘‘It’s a changed game, so we’ve just got to make sure we prepare them well.’’
After two games back at the coalface, the bye week gave Cooper an early chance to get away from it all for a bit.
‘‘I went back home, watched my 10-year-old play cricket and tough it out for 20 overs,’’ he said. ‘‘He wants to play expansive all the time, so I had a great lot of pleasure.’’
Then there was also the pleasure of hearing from his mates about how they felt his Chiefs side were tracking, receiving plenty of advice along the way of course. But while proud of what his side had put out so far, Cooper is by no means dining out on that backs-tothe-wall effort against the Blues, and is determined to see improvement.
‘‘It was a very proud moment, physically and the way we played, we brought everything, but we didn’t play smart.
‘‘There were times where we could have really put the foot on the throat, but we kept them in the hunt and in the end we were lucky to win that really, when we look back on it.’’
‘‘I don’t think you can win games just on heart.’’