How a schoolboy representative, an old stalwart and an All Black in waiting make the Chiefs squad the pick of the bunch
How much of a role new coach Warren Gatland had in the Chiefs’ recruitment process for the upcoming season is anyone’s guess, given how little time he has spent in New Zealand over the last year.
At the bare minimum, you would expect that Gatland had regular discussions with his coaching and recruiting team to ensure a successful return for the former Waikato coach next year.
Regardless, the Chiefs have done well to secure a few key signatures for 2020 – players who could well push on to stake a claim for higher honours down the track (or who have already done so in the past).
There have also been very few exits from the Chiefs for next year – or at least few ones of magnitude. Brodie Retallick will of course leave a huge hole in the squad whilst Taleni Seu has been a solid performer for the Chiefs over the last few years, but both spent most of 2019 on the sidelines thanks to injuries.
In fact, it’s altogether possible that the Chiefs have gained the most from the Super Rugby offseason out of all the New Zealand squads.
All nine players selected to cover the front row have been in action for the Chiefs before.
Capped props Atu Moli, Angus Ta’avao and Nepo Laulala will be supported by Reuben O’Neill, Aidan Ross and Ryan Coxon.
O’Neill travelled to Europe with the All Blacks in 2018 but didn’t accrue any minutes, then spent all of this season out with injury. Ross was also in the All Blacks frame back in 2018 but suffered a season-ending ankle injury partway through the year which helped pave the way for Karl Tui’nukuafe to make his international debut.
Packing down at hooker will be Nathan Harris, who will be hungry to win back his All Blacks role after losing ground to Liam Coltman and Asafo Aumua this year. Samisoni Taukei’aho could push Harris for the starting role after offering plenty off the bench for most of 2019 and impressing for Waikato.
New signing Bradley Slater earned a handful of caps for the Chiefs this season and has been promoted to a full-time squad member for 2020. He has taken the place of Liam Polwart, who is reportedly taking time out from the game to deal with concussion.
The second row could prove to be either a huge problem or a great boon for the Chiefs. They’ll have to cope without the world’s best lock, but the signing of young Wellington tyro Naitoa Ah Kuoi should alleviate some of the pain.
Ben Te'o is in the move again as he tries to revive his career following his World Cup axing by England's Eddie Jones
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Ah Kuoi was a superstar for Wellington College during his high school years and made a big impact for the New Zealand Schools side in 2017. Hip surgery kept him out of the game for six months at the start of 2018 and then Ah Kuoi had to deal with a torn medial cruciate ligament and a sprained ankle this year. Ah Kuoi has slowly built his way back up to full fitness, however, and looked solid for Wellington in this year’s Mitre 10 Cup.
It’s a fairly major signing for the Chiefs – and not great news for the Hurricanes, who have often lacked bulk in the second row.
“I had a few offers to move elsewhere,” Ah Kuoi said in 2017, “but in the end I’m too loyal to [Wellington] and it is definitely a dream to play for the Lions and to play for the Hurricanes.”
Evidently, the Chiefs have become a better option for the 196cm second-rower.
Ah Kuoi will be joined by Michael Allardice, who captained the Chiefs at various points throughout this year, as well as Canada captain Tyler Ardron and another youngster in the form of Laghlan McWhannell.
21-year-old McWhannell was a fulltime member of the Chiefs last season was kept off the park due to injuries. He will likely be Ah Kuoi’s primary competitor for the backup locking role in 2020.
The loose forwards will again boast plenty of depth next year, with Lachlan Boshier, Sam Cane, Luke Jacobson, Mitch Karpik, Mitchell Brown and Pita Gus Sowakula all returning.
All six of those players would be worthy starters but it’s hard to see Cane or Jacobson being left off the teamsheet, providing they are fit.
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There will certainly be concerns surrounding Jacobson, who was invalided out of the All Blacks’ World Cup squad thanks to a reoccurrence of concussion symptoms which have plagued his career in recent seasons.
The sole newbie in the loosies is South Africa-born number 8 Dylan Nel. Nel was lured to New Zealand three years ago by Crusaders coach Scott Robertson and accrued a few caps for Canterbury before joining Otago for this year’s Mitre 10 Cup.
Game time may be hard to come by for Nel, given the depth that the Chiefs have, but injuries have become a given in Super Rugby and nine players managed minutes for the Hamilton-based side in 2019.
It's out with the old and in with the new for the Highlanders as they welcome 15 new faces into their side for the 2020 Super Rugby campaign.https://t.co/VBDtkJdCF7
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All Blacks Brad Weber and Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi will receive the lion’s share of game time at halfback with Lisati Milo-Harris also coming into the team to replace Jonathan Taumateine.
Milo-Harris made his provincial debut for Taranaki this year but previously spent time training with Auckland and the Blues. Injuries have prevented his career from taking flight just yet and he’s still unproven at the provincial level, but he’s certainly not a bad option as the third-in-line.
Aaron Cruden’s return to the Chiefs has been appropriately lauded and he will surely take on the playmaker roles for 2020 whilst tutoring Tiaan Falcon (who earned a handful of caps in 2018 but was sidelined this year) and new squad member Kaleb Trask.
Damian McKenzie spent the majority of his time at 10 this year before suffering a season ending ACL injury but he expressed interest at returning to the fullback role.
The midfield is sufficiently stacked for the Chiefs, especially with the inclusion of All Black in waiting Quinn Tupaea. It would not be a major surprise to see Tupaea dropped straight in the deep end to partner up with Anton Lienert-Brown in the centres.
Tumua Manu did a solid job for the Chiefs this year whilst Alex Nankivell stood out at times too. Bailyn Sullivan has been mainly utilised on the wing but second five appeals as his best position.
Between McKenzie, Solomon Alaimalo and Shaun Stevenson, there are no question marks over the outside backs. Kini Naholo, younger brother of former All Black Waisake, is a promising pick up but has been selected more on potential than performance to date.
Former All Black Andrew Mehrtens believes that New Zealand needs to cut ties with South Africa and get more involved with Asia:
Comments on RugbyPass
The Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig 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
3 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 comments