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Chiefs back cohesion, add a splash of X-factor in 2025 squad

Leroy Carter of New Zealand celebrates his try during Madrid Rugby Sevens at Civitas Metropolitano Stadium on Jun 01, 2024 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Alberto Gardin/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images)

After back-to-back final losses, the Chiefs have backed continuity in their 2025 DHL Super Rugby Pacific squad, while injecting some exciting new talent behind the established starters.

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All Blacks Sevens ace Leroy Carter joins the club, with the ability to play across the backline, including at halfback.

An unexpected coup sees the Chiefs land All Blacks XV hooker Brodie McAlister to replace the departing Tyrone Thompson, who is making a code switch to join his twin brother in the NRL.

Among the Super Rugby rookies is towering Taranaki lock Fiti Sa, while the likes of Josh Jacomb and New Zealand U20 star Malachi Wrampling also graduate to the top squad from the development group in 2024.

“The obvious thing is that there is a lot of consistency in the selection of the group,” Chiefs Head Coach Clayton McMillan said of the squad naming.

“I’m a big believer in cohesion. So, having guys that have played together for a while and experienced the highs and lows together. They learn and then create opportunities in the new season to put those learnings into practice and go one step further.”

Promising young All Blacks like Cortez Ratima, Wallace Sititi, Tupou Vaa’i, Emoni Narawaa, Josh Lord and Samipeni Finau return for the 2025 campaign, along with established international talents like Anton Lienert-Brown, Damian McKenzie, Luke Jacobson and Samisoni Taukei’aho.

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“I really love the team that we’ve got. I think it’s got great balance, great depth, and our collective experiences will put us in good stead to give the competition a real shake. That’s what we’ll be aiming to do,” said McMillan.

Related

2025 Gallagher Chiefs Squad (Provincial Union, Chiefs caps):

Aidan Ross (Bay of Plenty, 88)
Anton Lienert-Brown (Waikato, 120)
Bradley Slater (Taranaki, 60)
Brodie McAlister (Canterbury, 0)
Cortez Ratima (Waikato, 42)
Damian McKenzie (Waikato, 126)
Daniel Rona (Taranaki, 23)
Emoni Narawa (Bay of Plenty, 33)
Etene Nanai-Seturo (Counties Manukau, 60)
Fiti Sa (Taranaki, 0)*
George Dyer (Waikato, 37)
Gideon Wrampling (Waikato, 3)
Jahrome Brown (Waikato, 0)
Jared Proffit (Taranaki, 15)
Jimmy Tupou (Counties Manukau, 10)
Josh Jacomb (Taranaki, 4)*
Josh Lord (Taranaki, 22)
Kaleb Trask (Bay of Plenty, 23)
Kaylum Boshier (Taranaki, 29)
Leroy Carter (Bay of Plenty, 0)*
Liam Coombes-Fabling (Waikato, 9)
Luke Jacobson (Waikato, 78) (Captain)
Malachi Wrampling (Waikato, 0)
Manaaki Selby-Rickit (Bay of Plenty, 15)
Naitoa Ah Kuoi (Bay of Plenty, 62)
Ollie Norris (Waikato, 54)
Quinn Tupaea (Waikato, 48)
Rameka Poihipi (Canterbury, 44)
Reuben O’Neill (Taranaki, 29)
Samipeni Finau (Waikato, 45)
Samisoni Taukei’aho (Waikato, 92)
Shaun Stevenson (North Harbour, 96)
Simon Parker (Northland, 22)
Sione Ahio (Auckland, 4)
Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi (Bay of Plenty, 54)
Tupou Vaa’i (Taranaki, 58)
Wallace Sititi (North Harbour, 13)
Xavier Roe (Waikato, 31)

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Comments

1 Comment
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JW 164 days ago

Triple T is back again haha, nice. Not too much of a drop from Tyrone, Slater got preferential treatment this year so a real threat should be good for the team. Love the threat of this team it just needs a few to put their stamp on their positions. Hoping for even more improvement from ENS next year as well, such a shame him and Sotutu were injured and not touring north.

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JW 39 minutes ago
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Agree re Lynagh.


Disagree Beaver got it wrong. Blues made that look easy. It might be a brawn over brains picture though? More in the last point, but, and this may have changed by player selection, the Reds were very lucky this game. Tele’a should not have been red carded as Ryan landed on his shoulder, and both Tate and Jock (was it) should have been yellowed carded for their offenses in stopping tries. We also had a try dissallowed by going back 10 phases in play. We all should have learned after the RWC that that is against the rules. So straight away on this simple decisions alone the result changes to go in the Blues favour, away from home and playing fairly poorly. The sleeping giant if you will. I didn’t agree with the Blues take either tbh, but to flip it around and say it’s the Reds instead is completely inaccurate (though a good side no doubt you have to give them a chance).


And you’re also riding the wave of defense wins matches a bit much. Aside from Dre’s tackling on Rieko I didn’t see anything in that match other than a bit of tiny goal line defending. I think if you role on the tap for another second you see the ball put placed for the try (not that I jump to agree with Eklund purely because he was adamant), and in general those just get scored more often than not. They are doing something good though stopping line breaks even if it is the Blues (and who also got over the line half a dozen times), I did not expect to be greeted with that stat looking at the game.

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Ashley Carson 49 minutes ago
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