Chiefs limp into 'must win' game against Highlanders

The Chiefs go into their most important game of the Super 14 tonight without their influential skipper and with late calls to be made on the fitness of two other players.

Jono Gibbes was yesterday counted out of the match against the Highlanders in Hamilton, having failed to recover from a haematoma on a leg, a result of dropping a weight on it early in the week.

Bernie Upton comes off the bench to join Sean Hohneck in the middle row.

Decisions on whether All Black Mils Muliaina and prop Simms Davison are fit won't be made until today.

Muliaina, listed to start at centre, is recovering from a hairline fracture in a hand and Davison has tweaked a hamstring.

It's cruel timing ahead of a game which has Must Win written all over it, for both teams.

"To find three guys unable to complete training is disappointing, but that's the nature of the business and we'll keep trucking on," Chiefs coach Ian Foster said.

"The more immediate challenge is to take a disrupted preparation this week and really rise above that."

The Chiefs have played some impressive rugby but still found themselves 11 points off the top four before last night's three games.

The Highlanders are one place and five points better off, but have played an extra game.

In their last two matches, split by a bye, the Chiefs have had the chance to beat the Crusaders and the Brumbies, instead having to settle for bonus points both times.

Foster admitted it has been frustrating.

"We've been pretty disappointed with those two results in terms of the scoreline," he said.

"We were disappointed at a couple of decisions we could have made better on the park and didn't.

"We've had opportunities we haven't taken and I don't feel we've had the rub of the green in terms of the way decisions have gone in other areas."

Yet Foster insisted the cumulative effect had not damaged the spirit in the squad.

"We realise we're at a certain level and tracking pretty well. The challenge is to keep the confidence in things we're doing well, execute the key moments a little better and keep building."

The Chiefs have won four of their last five games against Greg Cooper's Highlanders - and in Foster's mind that counts for absolutely nothing.

"If they predicted the next score we'd probably live in a very dull world," he joked.

The Highlanders appeared to have set themselves up nicely with good results in South Africa, but consecutive losses to the Bulls and Sharks slowed their momentum.

Their pack has been bulked up with Carl Hayman and Tom Donnelly returning, but the Chiefs are no slouches up front.

However they need to start winning. Last season, they ended with a strong surge which got them to the cusp of the playoffs. They find themselves in a similar situation now.