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McKenzie returns for Chiefs as captain Retallick brings up century

Brodie Retallick. Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images

The Chiefs will be on the hunt for their first victory of the 2019 Super Rugby season this Saturday at GIO Stadium in Canberra. Head Coach Colin Cooper has named a strong starting fifteen to face the Brumbies which will be led by Chiefs Co-captain Brodie Retallick in his 100th Super Rugby match for the Gallagher Chiefs.

Kicking off at 7.45pm (AST) a near unchanged forward pack will take the field with the exception of Nepo Laulala who will move from the bench into the starting tighthead prop position for All Black Angus Ta’avao who is on leave.

In the backline All Black Damian McKenzie will return from injury to start combining with fellow All Black teammate Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi at halfback for the first time this season. Winger Ataata Moeakiola will take his position on the right wing with Bailyn Sullivan named as cover on the bench.

Joining Sullivan on the bench will be front rower Sosefo Kautai, loose forward Mitch Karpik, halfback cover Jonathan Taumateine and midfield cover Orbyn Leger.

Cooper said this weekend is an opportunity for the side to step up and embrace their learnings from last weekend.

“We have a young team and last week they learnt a lot, this weekend we need them to take on board those learnings and as a team deliver on them.

Cooper finished acknowledging the side will be wanting to deliver a positive performance in honour of their captain’s achievement.

“As a team we want this to be a memorable occasion for Brodie and we want to pull together a performance befitting this milestone on the field come Saturday night,” said Cooper.

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CHIEFS

1. Aidan Ross, 2. Nathan Harris, 3. Nepo Laulala, 4. Brodie Retallick (C), 5. Michael Allardice, 6. Mitchell Brown, 7. Lachlan Boshier, 8. Tyler Ardron, 9. Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi, 10. Damian McKenzie, 11. Etene Nanai-Seturo, 12. Anton Lienert-Brown, 13. Tumua Manu, 14. Ataata Moeakiola, 15. Shaun Stevenson.
Reserves: 16. Samisoni Taukei’aho, 17. Tevita Mafileo, 18. Sosefo Kautai, 19. Taleni Seu, 20. Mitchell Karpik, 21. Jonathan Taumateine, 22. Orbyn Leger, 23. Bailyn Sullivan.

Rugby World Cup City Guides – Oita:

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Nickers 28 minutes ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

I thought we made a lot of progress against that type of defence by the WC last year. Lots of direct running and punching holes rather than using width. Against that type of defence I think you have to be looking to kick on first phase when you have front foot ball which we did relatively successfully. We are playing a lot of rugby behind the gain line at the moment. They are looking for those little interchanges for soft shoulders and fast ball or off loads but it regularly turns into them battering away with slow ball and going backwards, then putting in a very rushed kick under huge pressure.


JB brought that dimension when he first moved into 12 a couple of years ago but he's definitely not been at his best this year. I don't know if it is because he is being asked to play a narrow role, or carrying a niggle or two, but he does not look confident to me. He had that clean break on the weekend and stood there like he was a prop who found himself in open space and didn't know what to do with the ball. He is still a good first phase ball carrier though, they use him a lot off the line out to set up fast clean ball, but I don't think anyone is particularly clear on what they are supposed to do at that point. He was used really successfully as a second playmaker last year but I don't think he's been at that role once this year. He is a triple threat player but playing a very 1 dimensional role at the moment. He and Reiko have been absolutely rock solid on defence which is why I don't think there will be too much experimentation or changes there.

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