Cape Town - Sam Cane will make his return for the Chiefs in a highly-anticipated Super Rugby quarter-final against the Hurricanes in Wellington on Friday.
Kick-off is at 09:35 SA time.
The team is boosted with returns to key players. In the forwards, Karl Tu’inukuafe and Nathan Harris are back in the front row, and notably Cane will start at openside flank.
In the backs, Damian McKenzie comes back in at flyhalf, with Charlie Ngatai starting at 12 and Sean Wainui slotting back in on the right wing.
Head coach Colin Cooper is pleased with the consistency throughout the team selected for Friday’s clash.
Cooper emphasised the importance of this game now the team have entered the playoffs and how the team will be giving their all.
“It’s do or die at this point in the season, the winner takes all and we’ve talked about the importance of giving the best you can and your all for the jersey.”
“We’ve put out a consistent team. Damian coming back brings a lot of X-factor into our game. We’re excited to see the combinations Damian, Charlie and Anton will bring as well as the leadership Sam Cane displays every time he takes the field.”
Cooper is aware of the threat the Hurricanes will bring at home and knows the team will have to be aware of their threats all over the park.
“The Hurricanes are going to bring a lot of intelligent skills to the contest. I expect them to use a lot of variety and they have a very good backline so there’ll be lots of threats around the park.”
Teams:
Hurricanes
15 Nehe Milner-Skudder, 14
Julian Savea, 13 Jordie Barrett, 12 Ngani Laumape, 11 Ben Lam, 10
Beauden Barrett, 9 TJ Perenara, 8 Blade Thomson, 7 Gareth Evans, 6 Brad
Shields (captain)/Reed Prinsep, 5 Sam Lousi, 4 Michael Fatialofa, 3 Jeff
Toomaga-Allen, 2 Ricky Riccitelli, 1 Toby Smith
Substitutes:
16 James O’Reilly, 17 Chris Eves, 18 Ben May, 19 Vaea Fifita, 20 Reed
Prinsep/Sam Henwood, 21 Jamie Booth 22 Ihaia West 23 Wes Goosen/Jonah
Lowe
Chiefs
15 Solomon Alaimalo, 14 Sean Wainui, 13 Anton Lienert-Brown, 12 Charlie Ngatai (captain), 11 Shaun Stevenson, 10 Damian McKenzie, 9 Brad Weber, 8 Liam Messam, 7 Sam Cane, 6 Lachlan Boshier, 5 Michael Allardice, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Angus Ta’avao, 2 Nathan Harris, 1 Karl Tu’inukuafe
Substitutes: 16 Liam Polwart, 17 Sam Prattley, 18 Jeff Thwaites, 19 Jesse Parete, 20 Mitch Karpik , 21 Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi, 22 Marty McKenzie, 23 Alex Nankivell