Rugby: Chiefs face many challenges to break bad Africa record

Cheetahs v Chiefs
Kimberley, 1am tomorrow

No Sitiveni Sivivatu, Lelia Masaga and, quite possibly, no Richard Kahui.

The absence of their three key strike players is the grim reality facing the Chiefs as they attempt to break a four-year African hoodoo and push on into the Super rugby semifinals for just the second time.

Sivivatu and Masaga are still in New Zealand nursing injuries, while Kahui has suffered a relapse of a hip injury suffered in round one against the Crusaders and is looking increasingly likely to miss tomorrow morning's match against the rejuvenated Cheetahs in Kimberley.

The parallels with last season, when the Chiefs rode a mid-season surge into playoff contention only to fall away on a winless, injury-ravaged tour of Perth and South Africa will already be making Chiefs fans squirm in their seats.

Kahui, the defensive linchpin of the Chiefs' backline, has been named to start at centre and coach Ian Foster will leave the decision on his fitness to the last possible moment.

But the early signs do not look good. "He's not moving as freely as we'd like yet, but last time it went from not moving freely to coming right very quickly," Foster said. "It's not quite the same, but it's a similar spot on the hip. I'd say there's a reasonable chance that he won't make it, but we'll make that call tomorrow morning."

If Kahui drops out, Jackson Willison will make his second Super Rugby start at centre and Sosene Anesi will join the reserves bench.

There isn't any relief on the horizon for the Chiefs, either, with Sivivatu's return from a shoulder injury being pushed back. Originally slated for next week's match against the Bulls, the All Blacks flyer is rated only a chance to face the Stormers in Cape Town in the final match of the tour.

Dwayne Sweeney, who scored a hat-trick in the team's last match against the Lions a fortnight ago, continues to deputise for Sivivatu. New Zealand sevens representative Tim Mikkelson will make his Chiefs debut after surprisingly getting the nod ahead of Anesi as a replacement for Masaga.

In another surprise selection, Foster has promoted James McGougan to start at tighthead, with Ben May switching sides and Sona Taumalolo dropping to the bench. Lock Kevin O'Neil also returns from an ear infection, replacing Toby Lynn.

The Chiefs will be battling the weight of a poor recent history in Africa and their customary injury woes. Overall they have won just seven of 27 matches, but recently the continent has been nothing short of a graveyard. Their last success came in round 10 of 2005 against the Stormers, a stretch of six defeats and a solitary draw - against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein in 2007 - over four years. To snap that sequence they must overcome a Cheetahs side certain to be buoyed by last week's 31-6 flogging of the high-flying Sharks.

"We've had a look at that game a few times and they played very well - it wasn't like it was just a bad Sharks performance," Foster said.

"They're very direct, they had a lot of lineout ball they could play off and they ran hard at the Sharks and put them under pressure.

"They ran them around in the first half and maybe the Sharks were guilty of not being fully committed in some areas. We learned very clearly against the Lions two weeks ago that if you go into a game just hoping to get the points and get out of there, it's not going to happen."

Unsurprisingly, Cheetahs coach Naka Drotske has retained the same side that stunned the Sharks in Bloemfontein last weekend.

CHEETAHS v CHIEFS:

Cheetahs

Hennie Daniller
Bjorn Basson
Corne Uys
Meyer Bosman
Jongi Nokwe
J-L Potgieter
Tewis de Bruyn
Hendro Scholtz
Juan Smith (c)
Heinrich Brussow
David de Villiers
W. van Heerden
Kobus Calldo
Adriaan Strauss
Wian du Preez

Reserves: Richard Strauss, Bees Roux, Nico Breedt, Kabamba Floors, Sarel Pretorius, Piet van Zyl, Fabian Juries

Chiefs

Mils Muliaina (c)
Tim Mikkelson
Richard Kahui
Callum Bruce
Dwayne Sweeney
Stephen Donald
Brendon Leonard
Sione Lauaki
Tanerau Latimer
Liam Messam
Kevin O'Neill
Craig Clarke
James McGougan
A. de Malmanche
Ben May

Reserves: Hika Elliot, Sona Taumalolo, Toby Lynn, Serge Lilo, Toby Morland, Mike Delany, Jackson Willison