Rugby: Chiefs lose Atu Moli for the season as casualty ward continues to fill up

Chiefs prop Atu Moli will miss the remainder of the super Rugby season. Photo / Photosport.

Safe to say this has not been the start to the season the Chiefs were hoping for.

Sure, they picked up an important win over the Blues on Friday night, but their casualty ward continues to fill up.

Going into the game against the Blues, the Hamilton-based side had 15 players unavailable for selection which included Tim Nanai-Williams, who underwent should surgery and would be out for the season.

Now, he'll have company on the pine for the year with the side announcing young prop Atu Moli would miss the remainder of the campaign after undergoing surgery to repair complications on a haematoma in his quad.

The club suffered another big blow to their season during the Blues clash with fellow prop Nepo Laulala sustaining a fracture to his forearm that will require surgery to repair. As a result, he was expected to miss 8-12 weeks of action.

Young fullback Shaun Stevenson, who was a late withdrawal from Friday's win, was set to be assessed this week after injuring his knee in the team's warm-up. Brodie Retallick, who was withdrawn from the match after being poked in the eye at training has recovered and will be back in action for their next match.

The Chiefs have the bye this week, which may have come at an unexpectedly ideal time for them. The week off will allow for the likes of Charlie Ngatai (knee), Dominic Bird (shoulder) and Kane Hames (illness) an extra week to recover from their ailments.

Ngatai, Bird and Hames were not named in an injury report released by the club on Monday, which could be a positive sign ahead of their first home game of the season when they host the Bulls on March 16.