Damian McKenzie will start at first five-eighth for the Chiefs' game against the Western Force. Photo / Photosport
Damian McKenzie will start at first five-eighth for the Chiefs' game against the Western Force. Photo / Photosport
After a year and a half of not having to travel outside of New Zealand for games, the Chiefs are going to do their best to make up for it over the next few weeks.
For the opening three rounds of Super Rugby Transtasman, the Chiefs will be travelling backand forth from New Zealand to Australia, with matches in Perth, Hamilton and Townsville to open their campaign. They will also have to travel to Sydney for their final game of the campaign, with only themselves and the Crusaders scheduled to play away from home three times during the short five-round competition.
Between Perth, Townsville and Sydney, with trips back to Hamilton in between, the Chiefs have the added battle of travel for much of the season - with only back-to-back home games in weeks three and four.
It's an added layer to the challenge of the competition which allows the Chiefs to get straight back into their work after falling short in the Super Rugby Aotearoa final last weekend.
"It will test our environment and challenge us as a team to bounce back and deliver on the field once again this weekend in Perth," Chiefs coach Clayton McMillan said.
"We trust that the team we have selected will do this."
The Chiefs will run out in Perth against the Western Force on Saturday night deploying a familiar attacking system, with Damian McKenzie returning to the No 10 jersey and Chase Tiatia joining the starting side at fullback. As Etene Nanai-Seturo is now in the sevens system in preparation for the Olympic Games, Shaun Stevenson takes his place on the wing, while Nathan Harris starts at hooker.
Damian McKenzie will start at first five-eighth for the Chiefs' game against the Western Force. Photo / Photosport
Bryn Gatland and Samisoni Taukei'aho move to the bench.
"We were really happy with what Bryn did in the last two or three weeks and that combination has been going really well together. Damian, like we did against the Crusaders [in round eight of Super Rugby Aotearoa], has got the ability to start there and it's awesome for our attack as well," assistant coach Roger Randle said.
"Last week the Crusaders were going to put a lot of high ball up in the backfield and Damian there was pretty vital for us. We think we've got a good mix with Chase coming back from a head knock. It's his second game back and he gets a chance to start. With Shaun Stevenson back there as well and Jonah Lowe, we feel we've got a pretty good balance there for the high balls they're going to be facing this weekend and Damian at 10 helps to run our attack.
