Chiefs drop Tana Umaga

Wellington - Former All Blacks captain Tana Umaga has been dropped from the Chiefs squad for round two of the Vodacom Super Rugby season this weekend.

The 37-year-old centre returned to Super Rugby after a four-year break in the Chiefs' opening 28-20 defeat by the Brumbies last weekend but was replaced by Dwayne Sweeney for Friday's game against the Highlanders.

Stephen Donald, the regular back-up to flyhalf Dan Carter in the All Blacks team, was also dropped for the match along with his halfback partner Brendon Leonard although both are retained among the replacements.

Number eight Fritz Lee was ruled out because of a knee injury he picked up in the match in Canberra, where the Chiefs were 18-3 down at half-time before battling back to take the match to a close finish.

"We are keen to build on our second half performance from last week's game as we travel to our second away match at Carisbrook," coach Ian Foster told the team's website. 

Teams:

Highlanders:

TBA

Chiefs:

15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Lelia Masaga, 13 Jackson Willison, 12 Dwayne Sweeney, 11 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 10 Mike Delany, 9 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 8 Liam Messam, 7 Tanerau Latimer, 6 Scott Waldrom, 5 Isaac Ross, 4 Hayden Triggs, 3 Nathan White, 2 Aled de Malmanche, 1 Toby Smith

Substitutes: 16 Ben May, 17 Daniel Perrin, 18 Culum Retallick, 19 Steven Setephano, 20 Brendon Leonard, 21 Stephen Donald, 22 Tim Nanai-Williams