The Chiefs are hoping the long-awaited return of All Blacks centre Richard Kahui for tonight's match against the unbeaten Sharks at Hamilton will spark their stuttering Super 15 rugby campaign into life.
Kahui returns to Super rugby after six months on the sidelines following a second shoulder reconstruction and will start
in place of Dwayne Sweeney.
He eased his way back into action with development team matches against the Tongan and Fijian A teams and has proven to Chiefs coach Ian Foster that he is ready to make the significant step up to Super rugby tomorrow.
The 25-year-old, capped 11 times for the All Blacks, is one of two changes from the team that lost a scrappy match 26-29 to the Hurricanes in Wellington last Saturday, with All Blacks hooker Hika Elliot, who missed the first two rounds through injury, forcing his way in ahead of Aled de Malmanche.
Kahui's addition - he will partner second five-eighth Tana Umaga in an experienced midfield - adds a touch of class to a Chiefs team that will be desperate for a win when they kick off the fifth round against the top-of-the-table Sharks at Waikato Stadium.
With one win from four matches pressure is mounting on Foster, whose charges find themselves at the foot of the New Zealand conference, already five points adrift of the fourth-placed Blues and seven behind the leading Highlanders.
"The Sharks represent a big challenge for us," Foster said.
"The key lessons from last week's frustrating loss were that we need to be more clinical and individuals need to take more responsibility for their skill areas.
"We've worked hard in those areas this week and we are looking to demonstrate an improvement at Waikato Stadium."
The Chiefs outscored the Hurricanes three tries to two and largely dominated the helter-skelter game last week but they made far too many errors with the ball and ill-discipline in crucial areas was costly.
A repeat of those mistakes tomorrow and they will be punished by the snappy Sharks, who have won four from four to lead the competition but only scraped past the Rebels 34-32 in Melbourne last week.
There will be a minute's silence after the teams run out at Waikato Stadium, both in support of those people who have suffered after last week's Japanese earthquake and tsunami, and for the official national day of mourning for Christchurch.
