Chiefs co-captain Brodie Retallick is set to play his 100th Super Rugby game for the franchise on Saturday when they face the Brumbies in Canberra.
Head coach Colin Cooper has named a strong starting XV with a near unchanged pack that will take the field after last week’s loss to the Highlanders in Hamilton.
The only alteration to the forwards sees Nepo Laulala move from the bench into the starting tighthead prop position for fellow All Black Angus Ta’avao, who is on leave.
In the back-line All Black Damian McKenzie will return from injury to start, combining with fellow All Black team-mate Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi at half-back 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-row Sosefo Kautai, loose forward Mitch Karpik, half-back 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,” he explained.
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,” he added.
Both the Brumbies and the Chiefs lost their Super rugby season opening matches last weekend so they will both be hoping for their first win of the season.
The Brumbies have played the Chiefs 25 times in Super rugby since 1996 and the Brumbies have won 13 matches in the period.
Overall the Brumbies have lost 11 matches of the 35 and drawn once.
This weekend the match will be played in Canberra which is where the teams have met on 13 occasions. In those 13 matches the Brumbies have won 9, lost three and drawn one.
The average score in the 13 matches between these teams for matches in Canberra is : Brumbies 33 Chiefs 26.
The Chiefs won in the last match played in Canberra but the four before that were all won by the Brumbies.
Average score: Brumbies 28 Chiefs 24
Last five results
Sat, 07 Jul 2018 Brumbies v Chiefs 19-24 Hamilton
Sat, 15 Jul 2017 Brumbies v Chiefs 10-28 Waikato
Sat, 02 Apr 2016 Brumbies v Chiefs 23-48 Canberra
Fri, 20 Feb 2015 Brumbies v Chiefs 17-19 New Plymouth
Sat, 19 Jul 2014 (Elim) Brumbies v Chiefs 32-30 Canberra
Brumbies overall record against the Chiefs
Played 25 , Wins 13, Losses 11, Draws 1
Teams
Brumbies: 15 Tom Banks, 14 Chance Peni, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Irae Simone, 11 Andy Muirhead, 10 Christian Lealiifano (c), 9 Joe Powell, 8 Lachlan McCaffrey, 7 Tom Cusack, 6 Rob Valetini, 5 Sam Carter, 4 Rory Arnold, 3 Allan Alaalatoa, 2 Folau Fainga’a, 1 James Slipper
Replacements: 16 Josh Mann-Rea, 17 Scott Sio, 18 Leslie Leuluaialii-Makin, 19 Blake Enever, 20 Peter Samu, 21 Matt Lucas, 22 Wharenui Hawera, 23 Tom Wright
Chiefs: 15 Shaun Stevenson, 14 Ataata Moeakiola, 13 Tumua Manu, 12 Anton Lienert-Brown, 11 Etene Nanai-Seturo, 10 Damian McKenzie, 9 Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi, 8 Tyler Ardron, 7 Lachlan Boshier, 6 Mitchell Brown, 5 Michael Allardice, 4 Brodie Retallick (c), 3 Nepo Laulala, 2 Nathan Harris, 1 Aidan Ross
Replacements: 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
Match Officials and details
Date : Saturday 23 February
Venue : GIO Stadium, Canberra
Kick Off local: 19:45
Referee: Angus Gardner
Assistant Ref 1:Damon Murphy
Assistant Ref 2:Graham Cooper
TMO : Ian Smith
