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Chiefs lose Pita Gus Sowakula for crunch Crusaders game

Pita Gus Sowakula. (Photo by Bruce Lim/Photosport)

On Saturday night, the Chiefs will run out for their first home game since May last year when they take on the Crusaders at Waikato Stadium.

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Not since the Chiefs dismantled the Brumbies 40-19 in the second round of last year’s one-off Super Rugby Trans-Tasman competition have the Chiefs taken the field in Hamilton due to the ongoing impacts of Covid. The return to Waikato Stadium will be a massive relief for the Chiefs squad and it coincides with New Zealand’s relaxed restrictions which should see a big crowd turn up on Saturday night as the home team attempt to do the rare double over the Crusaders.

The Crusaders didn’t play at all last weekend and will have been quietly preparing to get one back over the Chiefs, who scored a surprise victory in Christchurch just two weekends ago. The Chiefs, meanwhile, grabbed a big win over Moana Pasifika at Mt Smart last Saturday and while Covid is still causing issues within the squad, coach Clayton McMillan has been able to welcome back some key players for the rematch with the Crusaders.

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In the front row, Samisoni Taukei’aho returns to the action in place of Bradley Slater, who has dropped out of the 23. He’ll be partnered by Ollie Norris and Sione Mafileo.

Lock Laghlan McWhannell has also been omitted this week with last season’s All Blacks bolter Josh Lord taking his place in No 4 jersey to combine with Brodie Retallick.

In the loose forwards, Tupou Vaa’i holds onto his spot on the blindside flank while co-captain Sam Cane returns to the action on the openside. There’s a major omission at No 8, however, with Pita Gus Sowakula also on the list of unavailable players. In his place, utility forward Samipeni Finau will get his first start of the season after making his first appearance off the bench last week.

The halves and midfield remain unchanged from last weekend’s victory, with Brad Weber, Bryn Gatland, Quinn Tupaea and Alex Nankivell lining up again. Anton Lienert-Brown will sit out a second week in a row.

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While Kaleb Trask has held his spot at fullback after a handy showing against Moana Pasifika, there are changes on both wings with Etene Nanai-Seturo and Shaun Stevenson taking over from Jonah Lowe and Emoni Narawa.

On the bench, Tyrone Thompson holds his spot as the reserve hooker while Aidan Ross and Angus Ta’avao join the front row reserves and will be playing their 50th and 100th Super Rugby matches, respectively.

Naitoa Ah Kuoi, Kaylum Boshier and debutant Mitch Jacobson finish off the impact pack members with just two back reserves named in the form of Cortez Ratima and Josh Ioane.

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“The whole squad and club are really excited to play in front of a home crowd as it’s been a long time coming,” said coach McMillan. “We know our passionate fans, members and sponsors are looking forward to getting back to FMG Stadium Waikato and we will be doing everything we can to put on a performance they can be proud of against a quality Crusaders side.”

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McMillan also acknowledged the two key milestones coming up for Ross and Ta’avao.

“Both Aidan and Angus are outstanding contributors both on and off the field in our team. We look forward to celebrating their significant milestones this weekend and know it will be particularly special for their friends and whanau.”

The Saturday night fixture between the Chiefs and Crusaders kicks off at 7:05pm.

Chiefs: Kaleb Trask, Shaun Stevenson, Alex Nankivell, Quinn Tupaea, Etene Nanai-Seturo, Bryn Gatland, Brad Weber (cc), Samipeni Finau, Sam Cane (cc), Tupou Vaa’i, Brodie Retallick, Josh Lord, Sione Mafileo, Samisoni Taukei’aho, Ollie Norris. Reserves: Tyrone Thompson, Aidan Ross, Angus Ta’avao, Naitoa Ah Kuoi, Kaylum Boshier, Mitch Jacobson, Cortez Ratima, Josh Ioane.

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J
JW 30 minutes ago
Ex-All Black Richie Mo’unga teases return to ‘Test match setting’ in 2025

They didn’t really let him go though did they. He was gone, already signed to leave some 18 months earlier. Not much they could do.


Definitely a shame though, hence why I criticize the coaching for not unlocking that composure earlier. We would have seen he was definitely the player we need to take us through that WC, and the next, before the contract talks started. After, was too late. Conversely, if he had of continued to play the way he had been when he signed to go to Japan, I have no doubt Damien McKenzie would have been the player to lead us in 23’, and then we very likely would have won that Final. I’m not so sure Dmac would hve been good enough to get us past Ireland, Richie definitely deserves a lot of credit for simply getting us to the Final.


But that was all my message to HHT was. That class, or talent in this case, is permeant, and games like Ireland showed he did definitely had that. Obviously Richie’s got a large responsibility in realizing it sooner too, but in terms of not displaying it when it counts in 2019 or 2023, I reckon that’s on the coachs more than a lack of talent on his part, and it’s the same shame when it comes to your sentiment. If he was at the point were he could have saved out bacon against Ireland in 2022, it might not have been too late for NZR to have come in with a big contract offer. The bigger problem now is that Razor is only exasperating that problem with this new group. We now clearly know he was a big factor in Richie taking so long, because he’s replicating the same problems with the current batch. Thankfully NZR had no other option but to offer a big contract to secure Dmac this time though, regardless of how he must have felt after being treated like that.

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L
Louise Hayward 44 minutes ago
Zainab Alema breaking new ground: ‘I had to invest in sport hijabs to play comfortably’

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H
Head high tackle 1 hour ago
Super Rugby draw heavily favours NZ sides but they can't win in Australia

Very targeted article that writes to deliberately put across a fake point. Please John tell us who each side has played?

Why has NZ and AUs sides not really clashed? Because of all the “local” derbies John. How many times will the Reds, Brumbies, Tahs and Force , play the Blues, Canes, Saders, Highlanders, Moana and Chiefs John? ONCE per season. If you want to write an article about the failings of the draw then please write about the actual failings of the draw, Not a fabrication about the draw being unfair to the actual sides it heavily favours. Not 1 Aus side will play an NZ team twice to get to the finals. ALL NZ sides will.

To give you ONE example lets look at the Blues draw.

In 9 rounds so far they have played every NZ based side. ( 5 games ) then the Canes twice, Chiefs twice, And this weekend they play the 2nd game v the Saders this season. ( 3 more games ) so the only side they have played thats not an NZ based team is the Brumbies. 1 GAME! Still to play the Reds, Tahs, Force and Drua and will only get 1 game V those sides.


There are 4 Australian sides John. Pure maths tells me that means 2 home games against Aus sides and 2 away games v Aus sides. So basically NO NZ side should ever play more than 2 games in a season in Aus. Aus cut their teams down to 4. This is the direct result.


Yes the draw is not fair, but that heavily favors Aus sides. Either have 1 round or have 2, but this 1.5 rounds isnt fair to ALL NZ based sides.

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