Chiefs make three changes for Blues

Chiefs head coach Colin Cooper has made three changes to his starting line-up for Saturday’s Super Rugby derby with the Blues in Hamilton.

The tight five is again unchanged although there are some alterations in the back row.

Lachlan Boshier comes back in to wear the number six jersey while co-captain and now centurion Sam Cane stays put in the number seven jersey and Pita Gus Sowakula crashes his way into the run-on side at number eight after a strong debut off the bench in last week’s 27-22 win over the Highlanders.

In the backline, Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi gets a start at scrum-half, with Jonathan Taumateine backing him up in the number 21 jersey.

Cooper wants his players to be focussed and to become more consistent within each game.

“We’ve shown a lot of heart which is great, but we just need to make sure that we play a bit smarter,” he said.

“The Blues will be dangerous. We need to make sure that we have our structures right, our attitude right, and play the game we know we can play. They are great ball carriers so we need to make sure that we tackle well and that our defence systems work.”

The last time the teams met was in a gruelling derby at Eden Park in Round Three. The Chiefs battled to a 27-21 victory which went right down to the wire.

Chiefs: 15 Solomon Alaimalo, 14 Toni Pulu, 13 Anton Lienert-Brown, 12 Johnny Faauli, 11 Sean Wainui, 10 Damian McKenzie, 9 Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi, 8 Pita Gus Sowakula, 7 Sam Cane (cc), 6 Lachlan Boshier, 5 Tyler Ardron, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Angus Ta’avao, 2 Nathan Harris, 1 Aidan Ross
Replacements: 16 Liam Polwart, 17 Karl Tu’inukuafe, 18 Jeff Thwaites, 19 Luke Jacobson, 20 Liam Messam, 21 Jonathan Taumateine, 22 Charlie Ngatai (cc) 23 Marty McKenzie

Date: Saturday, April 7
Venue: FMG Stadium, Hamilton
Kick-off: 19:35 local (07:35 GMT)
Referee: Paul Williams (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Brendon Pickerill (New Zealand), Glen Jackson (New Zealand)
Television match official: Aaron Paterson (New Zealand)