Chiefs name seven All Blacks in the side to face the Highlanders
The Gallagher Chiefs have been named to take the field at Queenstown’s Recreation Ground this Saturday against the Highlanders.
Seven All Blacks are welcomed into the twenty-three for Round One including the return of Gallagher Chiefs Centurion Brodie Retallick.
It will be Retallick’s first opportunity to don a Gallagher Chiefs jersey since 2019. All Black Samisoni Taukei’aho has been named on the bench and could potentially play his 50th match for the Gallagher Chiefs.
Three debutants have been named to start including Waikato lock Laghlan McWhannell and new recruits Josh Ioane and Emoni Narawa. McWhannell will make his Super Rugby debut while it will be the first time Ioane and Narawa will take the field in Chiefs jerseys.
Loosehead prop Ollie Norris, hooker Bradley Slater and tighthead prop Sione Mafileo will pack down the first starting front row of the season. The starting locking duo is a mix of youth and experience, with debutant McWhannell in the number 4 jersey and All Black Brodie Retallick returning to start in the number 5 jersey.
All Black Luke Jacobson will start at blindside flanker, alongside recently announced Gallagher Chiefs Co-Captain Sam Cane at openside. The powerful Pita Gus Sowakula will round out the starting pack at Number 8.
In the backs, Waikato halfback Xavier Roe gains his first start of the season, combining with new recruit and one test All Black Josh Ioane who makes his Gallagher Chiefs debut in the number 10 jersey.
All Black midfielder Quinn Tupaea will start at second five-eighth, with Alex Nankivell named at centre. Jonah Lowe will light up the left wing, with the electric Shaun Stevenson on the right and Gallagher Chiefs debutant Emoni Narawa starting at fullback to complete an exciting backline.
There is an abundance of experience named on the Gallagher Chiefs bench with All Black hooker Samisoni Taukei’aho lining up to play his 50th match as a Gallagher Chief, alongside props Atu Moli and All Black Angus Ta’avao. Naitoa Ah Kuoi and Kaylum Boshier will inject energy off the bench in jersey’s 19 and 20 respectively. An exciting backline trio of recently announced Gallagher Chiefs Co-Captain Brad Weber, first five-eighth Bryn Gatland and utility back Chase Tiatia will complete the twenty-three.
McMillan acknowledged the return of Retallick and the All Blacks while congratulating the debutants on their upcoming achievements.
“It’s great to have seven of our All Blacks starting in Round One and we know a lot of our loyal fans are looking forward to seeing Guzzler back in a Gallagher Chiefs jersey”
“We are also looking forward to welcoming three new debutants. It’s a huge privilege to pull on the Gallagher Chiefs jersey and it is a special occasion for them and their wh?nau. We are excited to see what impact they will have on our season opener.”
McMillan said the team were eager to kick their 2022 DHL Super Rugby Pacific campaign off after a successful pre-season.
“A significant amount of effort and adjustments have gone into our pre-season and we are now really excited to rip into our first game of the new season”
“It’s hugely important to us that our hard work and energy manifests into a performance we can all be proud of. We know a lot of our fanbase are disappointed they cannot attend this Saturday, but we are grateful for the support we have received from our sponsors, members and Chiefs wh?nau to get us here. We are playing for all of you this Saturday.”
Gallagher Chiefs to face Highlanders:
1. Ollie Norris
2. Bradley Slater
3. Sione Mafileo
4. Laghlan McWhannell**
5. Brodie Retallick
6. Luke Jacobson
7. Sam Cane (cc)
8. Pita Gus Sowakula
9. Xavier Roe
10. Josh Ioane*
11. Jonah Lowe
12. Quinn Tupaea
13. Alex Nankivell
14. Shaun Stevenson
15. Emoni Narawa*
Reserves:
16. Samisoni Taukei’aho (50th Match)
17. Atu Moli
18. Angus Ta’avao
19. Naitoa Ah Kuoi
20. Kaylum Boshier
21. Brad Weber (cc)
22. Bryn Gatland
23. Chase Tiatia
*denotes Gallagher Chiefs debut
**denotes DHL Super Rugby Pacific debut
Unavailable for selection:
Anton Lienert-Brown, Aidan Ross, Gideon Wrampling, Kaleb Trask, Mitch Brown, Reuben O’Neill, Simon Parker, Tupou Vaa’i
Comments on RugbyPass
Big difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to comments