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Chiefs new blockbusting No 8 retained for Hurricanes
By Ben Smith
After the impressive starting debut by Wallace Sititi against Moana Pasifika, the Chiefs have named the young No 8 to play again against the Hurricanes in this week's blockbuster in Wellington.
The former Blues U20 captain starred last week with 94 running metres on 17 carries, including two line breaks. His powerful ball carrying was a handful for Moana Pasifika.
As a result of Sititi's form, captain and regular No 8 Luke Jacobson has been shifted to openside to combat the strong Hurricanes back row. One cap All Black Samipeni Finau completes the trio at blindside.
In other changes, dynamic halfback Cortez Ratima has been named to start alongside Damian McKenzie after showing a knack for tries, equal second in the competition with six on the year.
In the midfield Daniel Rona has taken a hold of the 13 jersey which means All Black Anton Lienert-Brown moves to second five-eighth.
Shaun Stevenson returns to fullback after a rest week, joining dangerous pair Etene Nanai-Seturo and Emoni Narawa at the back.
The Chiefs are looking to continue a winning run of five straight victories over the Hurricanes extending back to 2020 and stamp their credentials as title favourites by knocking off the undefeated Canes.
The match is lock Tupou Vaa'i's 50th appearance for the club and the Chiefs will be hoping to celebrate in style.
Chiefs team to play Hurricanes:
1. Aidan Ross
2. Samisoni Taukei'aho
3. Reuben O'Neill
4. Naitoa Ah Kuoi
5. Tupou Vaa'i
6. Samipeni Finau
7. Luke Jacobson (c)
8. Wallace Sititi
9. Cortez Ratima
10. Damian McKenzie
11. Etene Nanai-Seturo
12. Anton Lienert-Brown
13. Daniel Rona
14. Emoni Narawa
15. Shaun Stevenson
Reserves
16. Bradley Slater
17. Ollie Norris
18. George Dyer
19. Jimmy Tupou
20. Kaylum Boshier
21. Xavier Roe
22. Josh Ioane
23. Rameka Poihipi
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Latest Comments
Yeah they're away of it too. It was brought up in one of the Italian focused articles. They are performing now and trying to move out of that 'being in awe' type attitude.
Very easy to say we're good enough to put all our focus on wining this last big game of the year (this one) though, you also need to be consistent and still perform in the other games (slip up against Georgia) and not get ahead of yourself. Not think you're too good for teams like Argentina and Georgia just because theres a shift in attitude towards thinking 'were good enough to beat anybody now'. Hope they go forward from here but I think this performance is still only good enough to keep them off wooden spoon 6N position (keep them well away from the bottom mind you).
Go to commentsYeah I predicted (out of thin air) it to be more like 30 points between them. You don't think it wasn't more like that because they picked jaded players?
Will have a look at the game now I guess.
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