Consistency key for in-form Chiefs
The Chiefs need to beat the lowly rated Brumbies in Mt Maunganui. Evan Pegden reports.
and loose forwards, Brumbies coach Jake White has had his hand forced to some extent in making several changes from the side that scored a lastminute victory over the Cheetahs.
First-five Matt Toomua has been forced out with a knee injury so Christian Lealiifano, who had a season for Waikato two years ago, moves to the 10 jersey and has starting debutants either side of him in halfback Ian Prior and former NRL centre Joe Tomane.
The other notable change is in the loose forwards where upand-comer Michael Hooper has been named at openside flanker and Scott Fardy gets his run-on debut on the blind side.
Leon Power comes into the second row to partner Peter Kimlin.
The other player in the Brumbies’ starting lineup with Waikato connections is winger Henry Speight but while he and Lealiifano may know some of the Chiefs players and their onfield tendencies they are coming up against what are a completely new structure this season under new Chiefs head coach Dave Rennie.
The Brumbies need to win to maintain their momentum in the Australian Conference. They host the in-form Highlanders next week. The Chiefs know they too need to do the same, having lost their season opener against the Highlanders.
‘‘When you look at it we’ve won two games and in the bigger picture two wins ain’t much in the greater scheme of things,’’ Clarke said.
‘‘It’s a start. It’s a good solid foundation and it’s given us confidence that if we do things the way we train them we’ll do well. The main thing for us is to bring that consistently.’’