KEY POINTS:
In a search for more sting in the midfield, Chiefs rugby coach Ian Foster has switched All Black Mils Muliaina from fullback to centre where he will link up with Richard Kahui against the Stormers on Friday.
In the only change in the forwards, Foster has dropped No 8 Sione Lauaki to the bench and replaced him with Liam Messam in his starting lineup for the sixth round Super 14 match in Hamilton.
With Kahui fit again after a two-week layoff from an ankle injury, Foster has reshuffled his backline, sending Callum Bruce to the bench and shifting Sosene Anesi to fullback with Lelia Masaga coming in as wing.
Muliaina, who welcomes the move closer to the action, said he had never played in combination with Kahui before but was hopeful they would build a successful combination.
"It is hard to say if this is the starting (backline) lineup that we should have had from the start...but I am very excited to have Richard coming back from injury," Muliaina said.
"Hopefully, we will give a decent performance against the Stormers.
"We have an exciting back three we need to get the ball to and it's our jobs to get them into space.
"When we trained yesterday, we went pretty well together.
"It'll be the first time for me and Richard in the midfield and I think I'll be talking to him a bit to settle him down.
"He's bursting out of his skin to get out there after not playing the last two weeks."
Foster said Anesi was returning to form after overcoming recent neck and ankle strains and is looking fast again.
"He enjoyed some time at fullback last week, which made it easy to go with this backline."
Muliaina said the Chiefs, who have two wins and two losses so far this season, needed to build on their morale boosting win over the Cheetahs last week which saw them coming back from 0-17 down to win 22-20.
"We had a slow start last week," said Muliaina who is leading the side while lock Jono Gibbes spends another five weeks recovering from a hamstring tear.
"(But) It has been a morale booster because it showed we had a lot of composure to come back from 17-0 down, something which we perhaps haven't displayed in the past."
With two more home games to come after this weekend, "we just need another result to keep the momentum going," Muliaina said.
The Stormers are 10th in the standings, one spot behind the Chiefs.
Muliaina expects the South Africans, who beat the Reds 34-16 last weekend for their first win of the season, will be moving the ball around on Friday.
"The Stormers are a bit different to other South African teams in that they like to spread the ball and use their speed out wide.
"But we need to look to our game first before we think about them."
Still absent from the Chiefs roster because of injury are Aled de Malmanche (groin), Kristian Ormsby (shoulder), Dwayne Sweeney (haematoma) Mark Burman (knee injury), Jamie Nutbrown (knee) and Gibbes.
Burman, a replacement lock for Ormsby, is out for the rest of the season with a ruptured cruciate ligament which he suffered in a training match in Taupo last Friday.
Chiefs
Sosene Anesi, Lelia Masaga, Mils Muliaina (captain), Richard Kahui, Sitiveni Sivivatu, Stephen Donald, Brendon Leonard, Liam Messam, Tom Harding, Faifili Levave, Kevin O'Neill, Toby Lynn, Ben May, Tom Willis, Simms Davison.
Reserves: Vern Kamo, Ben Castle, Hayden Hopgood, Sione Lauaki, Tanerau Latimer, David Bason, Callum Bruce.
- NZPA
