Bundee Aki
Chiefs coach Dave Rennie has made only one change to his starting line-up for Friday’s Super Rugby crunch encounter with the Blues in Auckland.
The change is injury enforced – with Bundee Aki starting at inside centre in place of Charlie Ngatai, who left the field late in the 24-16 win over the Hurricanes last week.
He has failed to recover from the shoulder injury that forced him off the field.
There are two changes to the replacement bench.
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The Chiefs’ newly-crowned ‘Rookie of the Year’, Nathan Harris, comes onto the bench as the back-up hooker and he is joined by Dwayne Sweeney in the only other change to the matchday squad.
Meanwhile, in the Chiefs awards held in Hamilton on Monday, impressive lock Brodie Retallick won the Chiefs’ Player of Year as voted for by the Chiefs coaches.
He also picked up the Player of the Year award as voted for by the Chiefs fans.
The other finalists for the fan voted award were Tim Nanai-Williams and Liam Messam.
Chiefs: 15 Tom Marshall, 14 Asaeli Tikoirotuma, 13 Tim Nanai-Williams, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 James Lowe, 10 Aaron Cruden (Captain), 9 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 8 Liam Squire, 7 Tanerau Latimer, 6 Liam Messam, 5 Brodie Retallick, 4 Mike Fitzgerald, 3 Ben Tameifuna, 2 Mahonri Schwalger, 1 Jamie Mackintosh
Replacements: 16 Nathan Harris, 17 Pauliasi Manu, 18 Nick Barrett, 19 Matt Symons, 20 Tevita Koloamatangi, 21 Augustine Pulu, 22 Gareth Anscombe, 23 Dwayne Sweeney.
Date: Friday 11 July
Venue: Eden Park, Auckland
Kick-Off: 09:35 SA Time (19:35 NZ Time, 07:35 GMT)
Referee: Glen Jackson (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees: Nick Briant (New Zealand), Brendan Pickerill (New Zealand)
TMO: Ben Skeen (New Zealand)