Several big-name players will be missing when the Highlanders meet the Chiefs in a pre-season match in Oamaru tonight.
The Highlanders will be without first five-eighths Tony Brown after he took a heavy blow to the head in their game against the Highlanders Development XV last week.
Coach Greg Cooper yesterday said test results had shown nothing major, but as a precautionary measure, Brown would not play.
The Highlanders will also be without blindside flanker Hale T-Pole, who has a knee injury, and midfield back Seilala Mapusua, who is recovering from a blow to the sternum.
The Chiefs, too, will be without some star players, with Todd Miller, Roger Randle, Regan King and former Highlanders halfback Byron Kelleher all out with injuries.
Coach Ian Foster called them "rehabilitation-type" injuries and predicted the players would be fit for the Chiefs' first Super 12 game against the Hurricanes on February 21.
Cooper said he was happy with the Highlanders' 61-7 win against the Development XV, but the score was not a "major issue."
He said the game was a chance for the team to put into practice what they had been working on off the field, and to try new combinations.
He was pleased with his players' fitness at this stage of the year.
Flanker Craig Newby is to get a taste of captaincy duties in the first half tonight, before hooker Anton Oliver comes off the reserves bench to take command during the second half.
Oliver will captain the Highlanders through the Super 12.
"Everyone will get at least 40 minutes of rugby," Cooper said.
He said pre-season games were crucial because they revealed which combinations worked.
The Chiefs will be hoping their pre-season match against New South Wales in Australia last weekend is not a sign of things to come.
The Chiefs were thrashed 85-19, but Foster said the score was not an accurate reflection of the game.
It was played over 110 minutes, instead of the usual 80, and New South Wales used their full squad of 34, while the Chiefs had only 24.
Highlanders: Glen Horton, Aisea Tuilevu, Hayden Pederson, Seru Rabeni, Ryan Nicholas, Mathew Berquist, Jimmy Cowan, Sam Harding, Craig Newby (capt), Daniel Quate, Filipo Levi, Tom Donnelly, Carl Hayman, Jason Rutledge and Ben Nolan.
- NZPA
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