Sowakula ace in the pack
berths, while Chase Tiatia is back from concussion.
For Bay of Plenty and Tonga loose forward Kapeli, it’s a remarkable rise, but his sensational 80 minutes on Super debut against the Blues secured him a spot ahead of Chiefs veteran Liam Messam and Tom Florence, who were last week called into the squad as injury replacements.
‘‘It was either Zane Kapeli or myself, really,’’ quipped former loose forward McMillan, before softening the blow on 180-game stalwart Messam.
‘‘That was a hard decision, whether we went with the experience of Liam or we brought Zane in.
‘‘The value in having Zane is that, as you saw last week, he covered lock for 60 minutes, so he can potentially do that again this week, and I guess you always want to prepare for those sort of situations.
‘‘And, Liam, for all his experience, the reality is he’s played 25 minutes of rugby all year. And I think it would have been a big ask, even though we know the calibre of the man, to go out and front for us in a final.
‘‘He’ll travel with us and he’ll be that wise old man in the corner.’’
Pita Gus Sowakula’s red-hot form has forced Chiefs coach Clayton McMillan into a forward pack reshuffle for tomorrow night’s Super Rugby Aotearoa final.
The explosive Fijian loose forward, who was one of the team’s best performers last year, missed the early stages of this season with a knee injury and got back into his work with three appearances from the bench, then has been a standout the past fortnight in his two starts at No 8 while Luke Jacobson sat out with concussion.
And that has proved too irresistible for McMillan to ignore for the decider against the Crusaders in Christchurch. Despite two-test All Black Jacobson returning to the back of the scrum, Sowakula has been handed a start at blindside flanker – just his second time in the Chiefs’ No 6 jersey in what will be his 34th appearance for the club.
That switch has seen regular blindside Mitchell Brown shifted forward to lock – where he filled in capably all of last season – which means regular starting second rower Naitoa Ah Kuoi will play from the reserves.
‘‘Pita Gus is one of those guys who I thought was outstanding last week, so he really forced our hand,’’ McMillan said in announcing his team yesterday.
‘‘We know that the locking combination has served us really well ... but the decision, to be perfectly honest, was made a little bit easier because Naitoa’s been out with concussion the last couple of weeks, he’s only just passed that on Tuesday. So it was fairly straightforward.’’
The rest of the side essentially picked itself after McMillan opted to rest 11 frontliners for last Saturday’s 39-19 final-round dead rubber defeat to the Blues.
Along with Sowakula, only Bryn Gatland remains in the runon XV from the one which started at Eden Park, with McMillan noting fellow playmaker Kaleb Trask failed to grasp his opportunity in that game.
In their last meeting against the Crusaders – the 26-25 win in Hamilton three weeks ago – the Chiefs opted to play Damian McKenzie at No 10 and had Gatland closing from the bench. Asked why they wouldn’t repeat the McKenzie move this time, McMillan said:
‘‘We’re playing slightly different, they’re playing slightly different. There’s pros and cons isn’t there. He’s going to do a great job wherever we put him, he’s proved that.
‘‘We’re just anticipating down in Christchurch it’s a little bit more in the winter months now, it’ll be dewy, it’ll be cold, potential for rain, so the tactical battle, I think, is going to be really important. So having both Bryn and Damo there I think serves us well in that regard.
‘‘Equally, I think the Crusaders are going to kick a lot more than what they have, we saw them sort of transition to that against the Blues, and Damo’s by far and away the best man under the ball, really composed and brave, so there’s a little bit of that in the selection as well.’’
On the bench, Bradley Slater edges Nathan Harris as back-up hooker, while with loose forward/ lock Samipeni Finau (shoulder) and winger/centre Sean Wainui (hamstring) ruled out after sustaining injuries last weekend, Zane Kapeli and Rameka Poihipi earn