Chiefs v Hurricanes
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Hurricanes
1 Toby Smith
2 Ricky Riccitelli
3 Jeff Toomaga-Allen
4 Michael Fatialofa
5 Sam Lousi
6 Brad Shields (c)
7 Sam Henwood
8 Blade Thomson
9 TJ Perenara
10 Beauden Barrett
11 Ben Lam
12 Ngani Laumape
13 Wes Goosen
14 Nehe Milner-Skudder
15 Jordie BarrettReserves
16 James O'Reilly
17 Chris Eves
18 Ben May
19 Gareth Evans
20 Reed Prinsep
21 Finlay Christie
22 Ihaia West
23 Julian Savea.
HURRICANES SQUAD NAMED TO FACE THE CHIEFS
The Hurricanes have made minimal changes to their starting XV for their last Investec Super Rugby round robin match against the Chiefs in Hamilton on Friday night. Overall, Hurricanes head coach Chris Boyd has made just three changes to the team that will run on to FMG Waikato Stadium from the one which faced the Blues last round. Prop Jeff Toomaga-Allen is promoted from the bench along with lock Michael Fatialofa in changes to the pack while competition leading try scorer Ben Lam also returns. Lam is the only change to a back line which produced six tries against the Blues, including a club record equaling four for second five-eighth Ngani Laumape who will again form a midfield combination with Wes Goosen. Boyd has also made a few tweaks to the bench where Chris Eves, Reed Prinsep and Finlay Christie all return after a week away. The Hurricanes need to win, get a bonus point or avoid a heavy defeat against the Chiefs to guarantee a home quarterfinal the following week. Boyd said there was real determination in the squad to perform in Hamilton, not only to maintain momentum heading into the play-offs, but to ensure they had a home quarterfinal in front of their fans. -
@Stargazer Falcon on the bench for the Chiefs.
Nowhere near a first-choice forward pack though.
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Chiefs
1 Sam Prattley (8)
2 Liam Polwart (18)
3 Angus Ta’avao (15)
4 Brodie Retallick (96)
5 Tyler Ardron (10)
6 Lachlan Boshier (28)
7 Mitchell Karpik (11)
8 Jesse Parete (7)
9 Brad Weber (55)
10 Marty McKenzie (17)
11 Shaun Stevenson (31)
12 Charlie Ngatai (54)
13 Anton Lienert-Brown (53)
14 Toni Pulu (32)
15 Solomon Alaimalo (24)Reserves
16 Samisoni Taukei’aho (8)
17 Karl Tu’inukuafe (14)
18 Jeff Thwaites (11)
19 Michael Allardice (32)
20 Liam Messam (177)
21 Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi (15)
22 Tiaan Falcon (2)
23 Johnny Faauli (17)'
Gallagher Chiefs team named to take on the Hurricanes
The Gallagher Chiefs are set to play their last round robin match of the Investec Super Rugby competition this Friday. Going by overall competition points, this is sure to go down to the wire and be full of excitement, with the Hurricanes and the Gallagher Chiefs in second and third place of the New Zealand conference respectively. Gallagher Chiefs head coach Colin Cooper says the team are ready to put on a show for the home crowd. "We’re going out there to put on a great performance, it could be our last game at home. We want to make sure that wherever there is an opportunity, that we grab it. We look forward to playing our own game, and are also aware of what the Hurricanes bring. They showed against the Blues how good they are off the set piece - and we’ve done some work around our set piece defence - but with ball in hand, our focus is on what we can do.” In the forwards, Sam Prattley gets his first start after effective performances off the bench for most of the season. Brodie Retallick comes back into the number four jersey after six weeks on the injured list, Lachlan Boshier getting a start after returning last week. Rounding out the impactful loose trio are Mitch Karpik and Jesse Parete. In the backline, Marty McKenzie comes into the number ten jersey, with Colin Cooper confident in his ability to drive the game. "Marty will be the game driver at number ten, and we are confident that he can control the game really well.” Colin reiterated the importance of playing this game in Chiefs Country. "Our home crowd means a lot to us, and we aim to give them a great performance.” The game kicks off at 7.35pm at FMG Stadium Waikato this Friday the 13th, with the “Squad Up” theme encouraging all fans to dress up in their best uniforms. The best dressed fans will win some awesome prizes, and the fun zones will be buzzing with school holidays in full swing. -
@stargazer said in Chiefs v Hurricanes:
Pre-emptive?
Probably felt a trip to the doc was coming anyway with all the hospital passes from MMac. -
