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Chiefs' coach Dave Rennie has name Rotorua's Liam Messam and Craig Clarke as co-captains for this year's Super Rugby season.

In front of the team at their training ground in Hamilton but minus their current All Blacks who were on promotional duties in Auckland, Rennie announced today, he had decided to share the captain's duties for the 2012 campaign.

Messam has played 79 games for the Chiefs and is the captain for the New Zealand Maori and ITM Cup finalists Waikato.

The 27-year-old told The Daily Post, he was always proud to wear the captains tag and was comfortable sharing the duties with Clarke.

Clarke who has played 41 games for the chiefs and captains the Taranaki side said it was a huge honour to share the role with Liam.



Rennie said he hadn't worked out the finer details of how the co-captaincy will work, such as leading out of the team and the toss of the coin but he was confident of its success.

The Chiefs will play three preseason games, their first against the Rebels in Australia on February 3, followed by the Highlanders in Queenstown on February 10 and Hurricanes on February 17, in Taupo. Their season opener is against the Highlanders on February 25, at Waikato Stadium.