Chiefs 2020

Stargazer

As expected:

CANE TO CAPTAIN GALLAGHER CHIEFS IN 2020

Gallagher Chiefs Head Coach Warren Gatland has announced today loose forward Sam Cane will captain the Gallagher Chiefs for the upcoming Investec Super Rugby season.

Gatland said Cane is a respected member of the Gallagher Chiefs squad and is a notable leader.

“Sam has co-captained the Gallagher Chiefs since 2016. He is an experienced campaigner who is well respected by the players and management. We believe it was important to identify one person this season to lead the team and that individual would be supported by the team’s leadership group.”

Cane has been a formidable member of the Gallagher Chiefs since his debut in 2012 and played his role in the Gallagher Chiefs 2012 and 2013 Investec Super Rugby title wins. Cane has co-captained alongside Charlie Ngatai, Aaron Cruden and Brodie Retallick for the past four seasons.

Having played 111 games for the Gallagher Chiefs and 68 games for the All Blacks, Cane has been a proven leader both on and off the field. He continues to lead from the front with his strong work ethic and knowledge of the game.

(...)

Bovidae

Gallagher Chiefs Head Coach Warren Gatland has named a 35-man squad to take part in the pre-season match against the Blues. The starting fifteen features the return of All Black Damian McKenzie, and several rookies including talented Bay of Plenty first five Kaleb Trask, Waikato’s Quinn Tupaea and Ta$man prop Ryan Coxon. It is expected the sold-out crowd will be in for an entertaining tussle between the two sides across four 20-minute quarters.

Ryan Coxon
Samisoni Taukei’aho
Reuben O'Neill
Laghlan McWhannell
Tyler Ardron
Mitchell Brown
Mitchell Karpik
Pita Gus Sowakula
Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi
Kaleb Trask
Shaun Stevenson
Tumua Manu
Quinn Tupaea
Sean Wainui
Damian McKenzie

Reserves:
16. Bradley Slater
17. Ollie Norris
18. Ross Geldenhuys
19. Naitoa Ah Kuoi
20. Lachlan Boshier
21. Lisati Milo-Harris
22. Orbyn Ledger
23. Solomon Alaimalo
24. Tiaan Falcon
25. Leroy Carter
26. James Thompson
27. Tupou Vaa'i
28. Aidan Ross
29. Simon Parker
30. Josh Lord
31. Donald Maka
32. Bailyn Sullivan
33. Dylan Nel
34. Robb Cobb
35. Alex Nankivell

Stargazer

https://twitter.com/ChiefsRugby/status/1218003078135209984

The Chiefs seem to be making a comeback in the second half, with Naitoa Ah Kuoi and Samisoni Taukei’aho both scoring a try. Trasks kicks have been good.

14 - 19 Blues

Bovidae

The Chiefs team that started the game was quite different to what was originally listed.

Slater was at hooker.
Ross was at LH prop. I don't think Coxon played at all.
Vaa'i was at lock, and Brown went to the bench. Ardron moved to no.8 and Sowakula to 6 but they might have alternated a bit.
Falcon started at 1st 5, Nankivell at 2nd 5 in place of Manu, Stevenson moved to fullback and Alaimalo to the left wing.
DMac came on at HT.

The wind was strong and it was behind the Blues in the 1st half. The Chiefs dominated the opening 10 mins but couldn't score when camped on the Blues' line. The first 2 Blues tries were from stupid mistakes from the Chiefs. Stevenson had a brain fart and chose to run the ball 5 m from his own goal line when he had plenty of time to kick it out. He was penalised for holding on and the Blues scored from the resulting lineout. For the 2nd try a poor 5 m scrum by the Chiefs was compounded by Ardron and then TTT throwing passes under pressure so that Tupaea gets a hospital pass on his goal line, resulting in a turnover.

The Blues might be the happier of the two teams but their starting XV was closer to what should play in Rd 1 than the Chiefs. Falcon made a couple of nice linebreaks but his kicking was really poor. The opening kickoff didn't go 10 m and the others were inaccurate. Trask put a kickoff out on the full and both 1st 5s missed touch from penalties. TTT still looked tentative and his clearance wasn't great at times.

In summary, it was a typical pre-season game where mistakes were made. I didn't see any major injuries except for Falcon's hand or fingers being looked at, but he continued.