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Cape Town - Chiefs head coach Dave Rennie has rung the changes to his starting XV for their Super Rugby clash with the Sunwolves in Hamilton on Saturday.
There are two positional switches and nine personnel changes to the starting fifteen that defeated the Western Force 16-7 last Saturday.
In the forwards, there’s a new look front row with Kane Hames and Nepo Laulala returning to the matchday 23 to start in jerseys one and three respectively.
Hika Elliot is promoted from the bench to start at hooker. Dominic Bird retains his place at lock for the second consecutive week, partnering with Taleni Seu who moves from the reserves to start in jersey five.
Tom Sanders rejoins the matchday squad this week to start at blindside flanker. He’s joined in the loose forwards by Mitchell Karpik who gets his second start of the season at openside flanker and co-captain Sam Cane who switches to number eight this week.
The changes continue in the backs with Jonathan Taumateine named to make his first start for the Chiefs at scrumhalf. He’ll have plenty of support from experienced co-captain Aaron Cruden who starts at flyhalf for the fifth game in a row.
The two positional changes sees Sam McNicol switch from outside centre to the left wing, with Anton Lienert-Brown slotting into the vacated 13 jersey from inside centre.
Stephen Donald is promoted from the bench to start in jersey 12. Solomon Alaimalo earns his second start of the season to play on the right wing and Damian McKenzie retains his spot as starting fullback.
Teams:
Chiefs:
15 Damian McKenzie, 14 Solomon Alaimalo, 13 Anton Lienert-Brown, 12 Stephen Donald, 11 Sam McNicol, 10 Aaron Cruden (co-captain), 9 Jonathan Taumateine, 8 Sam Cane (co-captain), 7 Mitchell Karpik, 6 Tom Sanders, 5 Taleni Seu, 4 Dominic Bird, 3 Nepo Laulala, 2 Hika Elliot, 1 Kane Hames
Substitutes: 16 Brayden Mitchell, 17 Aidan Ross, 18 Sosefo Kautai, 19 Mitchell Brown, 20 Liam Messam, 21 Alex Nankivell, 22 Shaun Stevenson, 23 James Lowe
Sunwolves
TBA
