Chiefs change three for Hurricanes

Chiefs head coach Dave Rennie has made three changes to his starting XV for Friday’s clash with the Hurricanes in Wellington.

There’s one change to the forwards with Michael Allardice replacing the injured Brodie Retallick.

The remaining two changes affect the back-line with All Blacks midfielder Charlie Ngatai to start at inside centre and exciting young utility back Solomon Alaimalo to don jersey 14.

With the Crusaders cementing first place in the New Zealand Conference, the Chiefs and Hurricanes are fighting for the first wildcard qualifier position.

The Chiefs defeated the Waratahs 46-31 in Hamilton last weekend.

Chiefs: 15 Damian McKenzie. 14 Solomon Alaimalo, 13 Anton Lienert-Brown, 12 Charlie Ngatai, 11 James Lowe, 10 Aaron Cruden (cc), 9 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 8 Liam Messam, 7 Sam Cane (cc), 6 Mitchell Brown, 5 Michael Allardice, 4 Dominic Bird, 3 Nepo Laulala, 2 Nathan Harris, 1 Kane Hames
Replacements: 16 Liam Polwart, 17 Siegfried Fisi’ihoi, 18 Atu Moli, 19 Tom Sanders, 20 Lachlan Boshier, 21 Finlay Christie, 22 Alex Nankivell, 23 Shaun Stevenson

Date: Friday, June 9
Venue: Westpac Stadium, Wellington
Kick-off: 19:35 local (07:35 GMT)
Referee: Nick Briant (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees: Richard Kelly (New Zealand), Cam Stone (New Zealand)
TMO: Shane McDermott (New Zealand)