‘Nearly men’
All the ingredients are there for the Chiefs to cook up a winning recipe in 2020. Aaron Goile reports in the second of our Super Rugby previews.
In the NRL you’ll hear them talk about ‘the premiership window’, in reference to teams’ title chances. Wide open or slammed shut? And for the Chiefs in Super Rugby in 2020, it looks like a prime time to strike.
The Hamilton-based franchise have been ‘‘nearly men’’ since their maiden title triumph in 2012 and the back-to-back efforts of 2013 in Dave Rennie’s first two years as coach.
In the six seasons following, the Chiefs haven’t been back to a decider, yet they have always featured in the playoffs. Their eight-year finals footy stretch is a record current run for any team in the competition.
Now this season, with the homecoming of vastly experienced coach Warren Gatland and a one-year cameo for former All Blacks playmaker Aaron Cruden, they look a serious prospect of dusting out that trophy cabinet.
That is despite the loss of world-class lock Brodie Retallick
(playing sabbatical in Japan), which speaks to the quality through the rest of the squad.
Retallick’s absence makes the second-row department the Chiefs’ biggest challenge. It features uncapped duo Laghlan McWhannell and Naitoa Ah Kuoi, while Michael Allardice, entering a sixth Super season, will have to be heavily relied on, and Canada captain Tyler Ardron – very impressive last year – will surely be asked to again move from the loose.
But if they can get by there, the rest of the Chiefs pack offers plenty.
Up front there is the luxury of three All Blacks props, in Atu Moli, Angus Ta’avao and Nepo Laulala, while Reuben O’Neill will be eager to impress too, after being called into the national squad in 2018 but still waiting to debut at Super level after an