Hosea Gear
Aaron Cruden
Liam Messam
The Chiefs have injected some All Black experience for the Round 2 match against the Brumbies on Friday.
All Blacks Liam Messam and Aaron Cruden come into the starting team, as does former international Hosea Gear.
Current New Zealand and World Rugby Player of the Year, Brodie Retallick, will make his 1st appearance of the season from the bench.
In total, Chiefs coach Dave Rennie has made 6 changes to the starting side originally named to face the Blues last week.
Jamie Mackintosh starts at loosehead prop in place of Pauliasi Manu while rookie Siate Tokolahi retains his spot at tighthead after coming in as a late replacement for an ill Ben Tameifuna.
Manu and Tameifuna have both been named amongst the replacements.
Messam will captain the side, with impressive debutant Johan Bardoul dropping out of the match day 23.
Cruden comes in at flyhalf to replace Damian McKenzie, who shifts to the bench.
With Tim Nanai-Williams and James Marshall ruled out through injury and Gear picked to start on the left wing, James Lowe moves to fullback while Bryce Heem, who was another late replacement against the Blues, retains his spot on the right wing.
Hooker Quentin MacDonald and Taranaki centre Seta Tamanivalu are the new faces in the reserves.
Chiefs: 15 James Lowe, 14 Bryce Heem, 13 Charlie Ngatai, 12 Sonny Bill Williams, 11 Hosea Gear, 10 Aaron Cruden, 9 Brad Weber, 8 Maama Vaipulu, 7 Sam Cane, 6 Liam Messam (Captain), 5 Michael Fitzgerald, 4 Matt Symons, 3 Siate Tokolahi, 2 Hika Elliot, 1 Jamie Mackintosh
Replacments: 16 Quentin MacDonald, 17 Pauliasi Manu, 18 Ben Tameifuna, 19 Brodie Retallick, 20 Tevita Koloamatangi, 21 Augustine Pulu, 22 Damian McKenzie, 23 Seta Tamanivalu.
Date: Friday 20 February
Venue: Waikato Stadium, Hamilton
Kick-Off: 08:35 SA Time (19:35 NZ Time, 06:35 GMT)
Referee: Steve Walsh (Australia)
Assistant Referees: Shane McDermott (New Zealand), Paul Williams (New Zealand)
TMO: Glen Newman (New Zealand)
rugby365
Difficult match to pick for on SuperBru!
Was the Reds just diabollically bad against the Brumbies and the Brumbies not THAT bloody good OR were the Brumbies that good against the Reds?
Also the Chiefs… they won last weekend but did not exactly impress against a Blues side who looked rather ordinary.
Shall I pick the Chiefs at home or a fired-up Brumbies side?
If away form last weekend was anything to go by, then maybe it’s a good call to pick the away side!
Chiefs. Home game for them (yes it still counts), and it’s a great looking team. They must be tournament favorites now, especially with the Australian conference looking tighter than it has in the past, with teams taking points off each other.
@ Stormersboy:
Agree SB, not a bad side at all and as you say, home ground still counts (well, in most cases anyway).
And interestingly the most optimistic (biased?) Brumbies supporter only picked them by 30 against the Reds last week, this in the ‘Brumbies fans’ pool!
Looking forward to seeing the predictions this week
@ BrumbiesBoy:
The Brumbies look to be the form team in the Aussie conference so far, be interesting to see how they shape up against the team who are in my opinion, this year’s favorites.
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