Ngatai’s ankle ‘not good enough’

The Chiefs will be without midfielder Charlie Ngatai for their Super Rugby quarterfinal against the Stormers in Cape Town on Sunday morning (NZ time).

An ankle injury suffered in the 28-10 final-round win over the Brumbies in Hamilton last Saturday night kept the 26-year-old from travelling with the team, coach Dave Rennie said.

Ngatai went down early in the match, and while he played on, he was then pulled at halftime as a precaution with Rennie seeing it as too much of a gamble.

‘‘His ankle just wasn’t good enough,’’ Rennie said. ‘‘We’re not in a position to take a risk, you’re only allowed to bring 25 guys away, so it gives us a couple of spare guys but we needed to make sure that if we got any illness or injury late in the week, that we had suitable cover.’’

With Alex Nankivell – who started at centre last weekend – not selected in the travelling party, the midfield will feature either Stephen Donald or Tim Nanai-Williams – having arrived a day later than his team-mates following his commitments with Samoa – partnering Anton Lienert-Brown. Dominic Bird (concussion) and Liam Messam (hamstring) weren’t risked last weekend, but are good to go.