Sam Cane
Sonny Bill Williams
Chiefs coach Dave Rennie will be forced to rest star loose forward Sam Cane when they take on the competition leaders, the Hurricanes, in the Final Round of Super Rugby league action.
However, he looks set to rush back star midfielder Sonny Bill Williams as they push for a home ground advantage in the preliminary play-offs.
Rennie confirmed they would not play Cane against the competition’s runaway leaders, the Hurricanes, in New Plymouth on Saturday.
“We’ll probably give Sam a rest this week and freshen him up prior to the quarterfinals, because he’s played a fair bit of footy,” Rennie told a post-match media briefing.
“He missed the Brumbies game earlier in the year and our byes were pretty good – they worked out well with quite nice spacing to enable him to freshen up – so he’s been pretty good.
“But we’re conscious of the fact that he’s due a rest, we’ve got a big quarterfinal game somewhere the following week and it would be nice to freshen him up for that.”
Cane and hooker Hika Elliot have both started 14 of the Chiefs’ 15 matches to date this season, while skipper Liam Messam has made 12 starts.
Rennie also revealed that Sonny Bill Williams is set to return for the trip to New Plymouth.
“He’ll play next week,” Rennie said following the weekend’s 24 / 3 win over the Reds in Brisbane.
“It was always our target, the Hurricanes game.
“He’s had a little bit of a crook back, a disc problem.
“It’s taken a while to settle down.
“He ran pretty freely last Monday at training, so he was a chance to play in this match. However, he just pulled up a little bit tight on the Tuesday, so we decided to give him 1 more week.
“In the end, I’m sure the All Blacks will want him to play some footy and get some form behind him.”
The Chiefs’ bid to snatch home advantage off the Highlanders for next week’s fourth versus 5th wildcard qualifier is balanced on a knife edge.
Both teams are on 48 points – more than either the Australian or South African conference leaders – and both have 10 wins.
However, the Chiefs have a better points differential (+81), just 1 point more than the Highlanders who have an easier Final Round mission against the Blues at Eden Park on Friday.
“We’d love to have a quarterfinal at home, but obviously missing out on that bonus point right on full-time means we will have to get 5 points this week with the Highlanders having to play the Blues.
“You’d expect the Highlanders to be going all out for 5 points as well so it may even come down to points differential.
“In the end it would be great to be at home for a quarterfinal but we’re prepared to travel,” Rennie said.
rugby365