Rugby: Retallick firing on all cylinders for Super playoffs push

Brodie Retallick has featured in just five Super Rugby games this year. Photo / Getty Images

One simple statistic illustrates the impact the best player in the world can have on a team.

The Chiefs are unbeaten with Brodie Retallick in their ranks this season but, without the big lock, have lost more than they've won.

It's a good thing, then, that a fit-again Retallick will take his place in the run-on XV against the Reds tomorrow night, with victory clinching the Chiefs' playoff place and defeat leaving everything on the line for the final week against the Hurricanes.

Retallick has sustained the two worst injuries of his career to feature in just five Super Rugby games this year. But his 267 minutes have all had an influence, with the Chiefs running up a perfect 5-0 record with Retallick and stumbling to 4-5 without him.

Three of those losses have come since Retallick succumbed to his second shoulder injury, defeats that have left the Chiefs in a precarious position. But if they were in need of a lift after last week's humbling against the Highlanders, boosts hardly come bigger than the reigning world Player of the Year.

"We've got some big boys back," said Liam Messam, another returning from a minor injury.

"It's good to have Brodie back. He's probably worth about 300kg a game. He's played bugger-all for us this year and I know he's chomping at the bit to get out there."

Retallick confirmed as much, describing his stop-start season as frustrating but finding the bright side in what is the most important year of the 24-year-old's career.

"It's probably the first time in four years that the body and mind have felt this good so long into a Super season," he said. "But I'm just looking forward to getting out on to the park and hoping I have that energy and bring some impact.

"It's a pretty important game in terms of how our season's going to finish up so it's a great time to be back out there."

Retallick admitted there would be a bit of rust and maybe even a touch of nerves at Suncorp Stadium, understandable after both shoulder joints betrayed him at different times this year. Neither injury was especially serious - the second could have gone undetected if not for a precautionary scan - but both required relatively lengthy recovery periods.

They combined to leave Retallick short of game time and leave the Chiefs without one of their most important players, part of a locking crisis that at one stage saw a pair of loose forwards occupy the second row.

The tide seems to have finally turned for Dave Rennie's side, with Matt Symons also returning to the bench after battling concussion.

"We're really rapt to have Matt and Brodie back," the coach said.

"It certainly gives us a fair bit of steel and a lot of experience.

"You noticed [Retallick] in training - he was pretty fired up and pretty keen to go. It's good to have him back, along with a couple of others. We needed that."

Tom Marshall is another to shake off injury and take his place at fullback while Rennie was "really confident" of Sonny Bill Williams being passed fit to tackle the Hurricanes next weekend.