Chiefs to leave Cane out
Earning quarterfinal hosting rights is not the Chiefs’ focus heading into their final-round Super Rugby match against the Hurricanes in Hamilton on Friday, and co-captain Sam Cane is set to sit the game out as a precaution following his concussion.
The openside flanker was forced off late in the first half of Saturday’s 24-19 win over the Brumbies at FMG Stadium Waikato, and though he passed his HIA assessment, coach Colin Cooper wasn’t interested in returning Cane to the park in case of further damage.
Now he is set to join fellow All Black Damian McKenzie on the sidelines for a clash which, because of their likely quarterfinal matchup the following weekend, will effectively be meaningless – unless the Chiefs can claim a bonus-point victory and a winning margin of 23 or more, which would see the game staged in Hamilton, not Wellington.
‘‘We won’t be risking him, so he’s unlikely to play this weekend,’’ Cooper said post-training yesterday. ‘‘He passed his test [on the night], but as we thought he’d be after that hit, he’s still not a hundred [per cent], where he should be.’’
First five-eighth McKenzie will be serving his second All Blacks stand-down game, with Cooper having wanted to try to bank a quarterfinal berth post the June break before doing so. Asked if earlier in the season was ever a consideration, he noted the Jaguares game in Rotorua was being earmarked (which, ironically, the Chiefs ended up losing).
‘‘But we lost three sevens in one week,’’ he said, of injuries to Cane, Lachlan Boshier and Mitch Karpik. ‘‘You can’t account for that, you have to adjust things. So to the critics that think we should have rested Damian earlier, we would have loved to, but we just didn’t have the time, with losing players, the inexperience of guys coming in. We needed to have our most experienced, players to help them.’’
On the rest of the injury front this week, lock Brodie Retallick will return from his pectoral problem and hooker Nathan Harris is expected to be fine after suffering a corked thigh against the Brumbies, but utility back Sean Wainui is a concern, not training yesterday due to his shoulder injury suffered on Saturday, with Cooper rating him unlikely for Friday.
Prop Nepo Laulala is still battling back after complications in his recovery from a broken arm against the Blues on March 2, but will get a scan next Monday and could feature in the quarterfinal.
While the Chiefs could conceivably throw caution to the wind on Friday and attack from all areas in search of attaining that home quarterfinal, Cooper is instead steering the focus
talented towards just winning the match, and sending some players out in style in what is likely to be the team’s final home game of the season.
‘‘We’ve talked with our leadership group about that [the maths around getting the home advantage] but for the whole group they just need to hear one thing – and that’s ‘we’re going to go out as hard as we can to win and to farewell a number of our players’.
‘‘I don’t like a lot of clutter, I just like having a real aim around what we’re trying to do.
‘‘You saw what they [his players] can do against the Highlanders in the first half [when they went to halftime up 42-0 in Suva two rounds back].’’
Meanwhile, the Chiefs announced yesterday that hooker Liam Polwart, midfielder Alex Nankivell and Wainui had all signed on until the end of the 2020 season.