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Chiefs set to rest All Blacks trio

Cape Town - The Chiefs are set to rest Brodie Retallick, Sam Cane and Anton Lienert-Brown for the Super Rugby clash with the Brumbies on Saturday.

The trio featured in three intense Tests for the All Blacks against the British and Irish Lions and are being rested as the Chiefs resume Super Rugby action in Hamilton.

Fellow All Blacks squad members Nathan Harris, Tawera Kerr-Barlow, Aaron Cruden and Damian McKenzie are likely to start as Harris and Cruden were restricted to bench roles for the Lions series while Kerr-Barlow and McKenzie saw no action.

But Chiefs coach Dave Rennie is eager to have Retallick, Cane and Lienert-Brown as fresh as possible for the playoffs.

"Sometimes you've got to ignore that and do what's best for them, and best for the team," he said. "And we just want them fizzing come playoff time.

"Not all of them will play this week, we'll see how Sam and Anton and Brodie shape up, but we could potentially leave them out of the mix and give them a chance to get their bodies right for the playoffs.

"So if that's the decision we make that's what it'll be based on."

The All Blacks contingent were given training off on Monday except for Harris who went in to keep tabs on the lineout.

"We told them all to stay away, they've had a pretty intense three weeks," added Rennie. "We want them to clear their heads a little bit.

"We got a lot of hard work done, but (were) just making sure the group's really tight heading into the business end of the year," he said. "It's where we want to be - in contention to launch - so we've achieved that."

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