Chiefs lose Retallick for four weeks

Editor

Chiefs lock Brodie Retallick will miss this weekend's clash with the Rebels in Melbourne due to a shoulder injury.

Retallick was ruled out for up to four weeks with when the injury flared up a day after the Chiefs beat the Western Force in Hamilton last weekend.

World Rugby's current Player of the Year has been replaced by Mike Fitzgerald in the Chiefs' starting line-up for the clash with the Rebels.

"He's the best player in the world so he's pretty important to us, but we're pretty fortunate that we've got guys like [Mike Fitzgerald] and Matt [Symons] and [Michael Allardice] in behind them," Chiefs boss Dave Rennie told Fairfax Media.

"And we've played a fair bit of footy without Brodie this year as he missed four or five games earlier in the season, but never mind, we'll get him right and get him back for the business end hopefully."

Fitzgerald's elevation to the run-on side is one of six changes to the Chiefs' run-on side for Saturday's encounter.

In the forwards, props Ben Tameifuna and Pauliasi Manu are back in place of Siate Tokolahi and Mitchell Graham while captain Liam Messam also returns with Johan Bardoul dropping down to the bench.

Amongst the backs, Andrew Horrell comes in for Marty McKenzie at fly-half while James Lowe replaces Bryce Heem on the wing. Lowe starts on the left wing which means Tim Nanai-Williams, who played there against the Force, shifts to the right wing.

Chiefs: 15 Tom Marshall, 14 Tim Nanai-Williams, 13 Charlie Ngatai, 12 Sonny Bill Williams, 11 James Lowe, 10 Andrew Horrell, 9 Brad Weber, 8 Michael Leitch, 7 Sam Cane, 6 Liam Messam (c), 5 Mike Fitzgerald, 4 Matt Symons, 3 Ben Tameifuna, 2 Hika Elliot, 1 Pauliasi Manu.
Replacements: 16 Quentin MacDonald, 17 Siate Tokolahi, 18 Jamie Mackintosh, 19 Michael Allardice, 20 Johan Bardoul, 21 Augustine Pulu, 22 Damian McKenzie, 23 Bryce Heem.

Date: Saturday, May 2
Venue: AAMI Park, Melbourne
Kick-off: 19:40 local (09:40 GMT, 21:40 NZST, 11:40 SAST)
Referee: Andrew Lees (Australia)
Assistant referees: Angus Gardner (Australia), James Leckie (Australia)
TMO: Ian Smith (Australia)