Former All Blacks fullback Mils Muliaina, in surveying the upcoming Super Rugby season from Japan recently, must have looked at the Chiefs' abundance of quality outside backs and thought his would be a gradual return to the game here.
Instead, injuries have ruled out Robbie Robinson and Tom Marshall, andMuliaina, who has had to nurse a couple of niggles on his return, has been named at No15 for the Chiefs against the Crusaders in Christchurch tomorrow.
For assistant coach Wayne Smith, it is a godsend to be able to select a player with Muliaina's experience.
"With our injury situation, we're down on numbers, so to get someone back like Mils, who is a Chief through and through with huge experience, 100 test matches behind him, it's been pretty crucial for us coming into this game," Smith said.
"He's going to make a difference, I think, to what is a pretty young backline.
"Obviously not everything is going to be 100 per cent in terms of the structures. You can't clutter these guys too much but he's an experienced campaigner. I've been through the essentials in defence with him, so he knows what's needed there. And Dave [Rennie] has done the same in attack. We're not expecting miracles from him, we just want him to do the job he's done for so many years. If he does that, then hopefully we'll get off to a pretty good start."
Muliaina, a former Chiefs star who played for the Docomo Red Hurricanes after the 2011 World Cup, is used to playing the Crusaders but one of his backline colleagues, Robbie Fruean, isn't.
Named at centre to play against his former team following another heart operation, Smith is expecting big things from his blockbusting midfielder.
"Hopefully he's fired up. It's been an amazing summer for Robbie with his valve replacement and doing PBs in his fitness tests. He's feeling pretty good about himself. He's just got to unleash it all." APNZ
