Rugby: Masaga prepares for tearful farewell

Chiefs and Steamers winger Lelia Masaga is expecting an emotional farewell on Saturday night when he plays his last game before joining the Honda club in Japan.

The champion try scorer could not have picked a bigger stage to leave on as he will be a key player for the Chiefs as they look to win back-to-back Super Rugby titles in front of 25,000 fans against the Brumbies at Waikato Stadium.

In a throw-back to the pre-internet era, fans queued from the wee hours yesterday outside the stadium for a chance to buy some of the remaining 13,000 tickets.

Masaga knows it will be hard to keep his emotions in check after the game.

"If we win, I will definitely break down knowing it will finish where it all started for me but, hopefully, it is not the end for me playing for this awesome team," Masaga said.

"This was never about playing for a franchise, it was more about playing for a family and you knew if you went down you had another 14 players to back you up."

Masaga turned the semifinal last week for the Chiefs when he scored a typically dynamic try by outpacing and outmuscling the Crusaders defensive line.

He says the Brumbies will be just as tough to beat after being in top form throughout the campaign.

"They have been on fire all year and are not an easy team to beat as they showed by being able to go over to the Bulls and beat them, which is not easy.

"We played them there in the 2009 final and we got pumped so for the Brumbies to come away with a win and perform like that is amazing.

"We have to feed off each other and are building up as much confidence as we can at training to be able to put all that we have learned to the test. We need to manipulate their defence to put players into holes and be able to link up with our teammates to score tries."