Chiefs 2018
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Ross' misfortune follows that of fellow props Kane Hames, who is going through concussion protocols; Mitchell Graham, who will be back running next week following a leg injury; Atu Moli, whose season is over after a quad hematoma; Nepo Laulala, who broke his arm against the Blues on May 2; and Sefo Kautai, who is battling back from a foot problem.
Cooper confirmed halfback Brad Weber would return this weekend, after a wrist injury kept him out of the past two games, and that loose forward/lock Tyler Ardron (concussion) and winger Toni Pulu (shoulder) are possibilities, after missing the Hurricanes game, while No 8 Taleni Seu will be out for one to two weeks after a back niggle resurfaced in the capital and saw him leave the field before halftime.
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@hooroo said in Chiefs 2018:
We even made Lavea look good when he played 2nd 5
Bleh.. nothing impressive about that. Lavea didn't deserve his reputation as a poor player. He played some excellent games for Auckland and was ok for the Blues.
Lam knew how to use him at Auckland. Lavea and Nacewa would share the first receiver role (not dissimilar to Cruden/Anscombe but with even more responsibility given to the secondary playmaker) and it worked well. Nucifora played Lavea as a traditional 10 and the results were more mixed. The Chiefs playing him at 12 also suited his skillset.
Most of his poor reputation was because he was always linked to the premature dropping of Spencer
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Development team off to Hong Kong
The UoW Chiefs Taua Development touring squad to Hong Kong is:
Props
Ayden Johnstone (Waikato)Ollie Norris (Waikato)
Joshua Iosefo-Scott (Waikato)
Takayuki Watanabe (Kobelco Steelers)
George Dyer (Waikato)
Hookers
Donald Maka (Taranaki)Seb Siataga (Bay of Plenty)
Kasuke Nishibayashi (Kobelco Steelers)
Locks
James Tucker (Waikato) (c)Sam Caird (Waikato)
Tupou Vai’i (Taranaki)
Loose Forwards
Stan van der Hoven (Bay of Plenty)Foot Lokotui (Counties Manukau)
Joe Johnson (Bay of Plenty)
Ajay Lafaele-Mua (Bay of Plenty)
Halfbacks
Luke Campbell (Bay of Plenty)Isaac Te Aute (Bay of Plenty)
First Five-Eighth
Daniel Waite (Taranaki)Akihiro Shimizo (Kobelco Steelers)
Midfield
Matthew Lansdown (Waikato)Quinn Tupaea (Waikato)
Nigel Ah Wong (Counties Manukau)
Sam Furniss (Counties Manukau)
Outside Backs
Isaac Te Tamaki (Waikato)Mosese Dawai (Waikato)
Kini Naholo (Taranaki)
Bailey Simonsson (Bay of Plenty)
The UoW Chiefs Taua Development Squad players not available for the tour are:
Jeff Thwaites (Bay of Plenty), Baden Wardlaw (Bay of Plenty), Jesse Parete (Taranaki), Bailyn Sullivan (Waikato), Declan O’Donnell (Taranaki), Luteru Laulala (Counties Manukau), Reuben O’Neill (Taranaki), Jared Profit (Taranaki), Jacob Skeen (Waikato), Matt Vai’i (Counties Manukau), Mitchell Jacobson (Waikato), Jahrome Brown (Waikato), Terrence Hepetema (Bay of Plenty), Sheldon Tovio (Waikato), Tyler Campbell (Waikato), Tevita Mafileo (Bay of Plenty), Suetena Asomua (Counties Manukau), Bradley Slater (Taranaki), Laghlan McWhannell (Waikato), Tom Florence (Taranaki), Xavier Roe (Waikato), Ciarahn Matoe (Taranaki), Kaleb Trask (Bay of Plenty).
The 2018 University of Waikato Chiefs Development Squad Management Team for the Hong Kong tour is:
Head Coach Paul Hodder
Assistant Coach Nathan White
Assistant Coach Tim Nanai-Williams
Manager Gareth Duncan
Trainer Brad Mayo
Physio Teresa Te Tamaki
Analyst Jared Christie
Player Development Manager Kent Currie
High Performance Manager Chris Tindall -
Wondering how Mr Cooper will manage the 2 match break for ABs with Cane, Harris, Lienert Brown and McKenzie not missing a match yet. (Retallick has though)
So glad to hear this morning they are playing top XV vs Reds as they need every competition point they can get currently. But, totally against them risking/throwing the match v Stormers as well as match v Sharks by keeping all the AB's here in NZ. They desperately need the points against those teams well below them on the points table, who could sneak into playoffs contention. Harris is critical due to the propping crisis, and Lienert-Brown same in midfield.
Given their tough finish to the season I would prefer they keep their options open until last match v Hurricanes, assuming the latter will be far higher on points table. In between times, each of those players might need a break for injury, as well as the compulsory match off v Sharks.
I wonder how the Highlanders will manage it also, given 5 AB's without a break so far, and Codie Taylor, Laumape, Tu'ipolutu and the Ioane brothers the others affected most.
It is a real worry for me that managing this might impact significantly on finishing places in the NZ conference. What do others think on this topic? Nothing to worry about??
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@arhs said in Chiefs 2018:
So glad to hear this morning they are playing top XV vs Reds as they need every competition point they can get currently. But, totally against them risking/throwing the match v Stormers as well as match v Sharks by keeping all the AB's here in NZ.
The form the Sharks display against New Zealand sides, without your All Blacks, you can pencil that in as a loss.
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@mikedogz said in Chiefs 2018:
Development team off to Hong Kong
The first game of the tour - against a Hong Kong Select XV squad - is today at 7.50pm NZT.
Haven't seen a Chiefs line-up; don't think there will be a live stream.
