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Chiefs rest Damian McKenzie against 'dangerous beast' Crusaders
By Ned Lester
Damian McKenzie will not participate in the round-six contest against the Crusaders, with the Chiefs instead opting to rest their superstar playmaker in Christchurch.
McKenzie has started all five games so far this season for the Chiefs, meaning a rest this week was mandatory given his All Blacks requirements.
In his place, young gun NPC champion Josh Jacomb will make the first start of his young Super Rugby career, partnering Xavier Roe in the halves.
“It’s an awesome opportunity for Josh Jacomb who gets his first start in a Chiefs Jersey, not only through Damian's absence but as a reward for the hard work he has put in to get to this point," Chiefs head coach Clayton McMillan said. "We believe he can develop into something pretty special and can’t wait to see him run the cutter this week.”
McMillan also addressed the state of the Crusaders, traditionally a “formidable foe” but currently occupying last place on the table with five losses in as many weeks.
“No one is accustomed to seeing them start a season as they have, but in our view that makes them a dangerous beast. They have a lot of quality people down there and know they have the capacity to improve quickly. The challenge is to ensure it’s not against us.
“We are far from the finished product ourselves, where we have fluctuated between moments of brilliance and others that are sometimes short of our own expectations. But I love how this group own that, and there is no better opposition to see if the lessons learned can be applied quickly and effectively. It should make for another great game.”
Chiefs team to face Crusaders
1. Aidan Ross
2. Samisoni Taukei’aho
3. George Dyer
4. Manaaki Selby-Rickit
5. Josh Lord
6. Naitoa Ah Kuoi
7. Kaylum Boshier
8. Luke Jacobson
9. Xavier Roe
10. Josh Jacomb
11. Etene Nanai-Seturo
12. Quinn Tupaea
13. Anton Lienert-Brown
14. Emoni Narawa
15. Shaun Stevenson
Reserves
16. Bradley Slater
17. Jared Proffit
18. Reuben O’Neill
19. Jimmy Tupou
20. Simon Parker
21. Cortez Ratima
22. Josh Ioane
23. Daniel Rona
Unavailable for selection: Kaleb Trask, Tupou Vaa’i, Tyrone Thompson, Malachi Wrampling, Damian McKenzie (All Blacks rest).
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After a fairly simple Pac4, the BFs will find out a lot about themselves in September when they face the rampaging RedRoses at Twickenham in front of a record crowd. After that they will face them again in Canada in WXV1. They also have France to contend with. Will be interesting to see what Australia have to offer with Jo Yapp at the helm.
Go to commentsSuper Rugby Pacific has been better as a spectacle due to the emphasis on speeding the game up and I’d look at taking things a step further. Instead of giving teams 90 seconds to take a conversion, let’s bring that down 60 seconds. You could also look at allowing 45 seconds for a penalty goal. Maybe teams could get 20 seconds instead of 30 to form a scrum before the ref then starts the engagement process. However, this year the most pleasing change is the added competitiveness in the Trans Tasman matches. What does frustrate me is how the rugby media in Australasia allow the the whole ‘‘rugby is boring’’/’’rugby yawnion’’ narrative to take hold from from vindictive league types, the chairman of the ARL commission and News Limited Australia. Stick up for the game and shift the narrative!
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