Australia’s Waratahs player Israel Folau (R) celebrates eith teammate Michael Hooper (L) after scoring a try against the Stormers of South Africa during their Super rugby union match in Sydney on February 24, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / WILLIAM WEST /

Super Rugby: Chiefs vs Waratahs – Team news, kick off and live stream

The Chiefs are back from their South African tour where they won a tough game against the Stormers, and narrowly lost against the Sharks in Durban.

by Erene Roux

24-05-2018 16:56

in Rugby

The Chiefs are back home for their match against the Waratahs in another exciting Super Rugby match scheduled for this weekend.

The Chiefs are back from their South African tour where they won a tough game in Cape Town against the Stormers, and narrowly lost against the Sharks in Durban.

In a statement on the Chiefs’ website, head coach Colin Cooper said that the team is doing a lot of work and planning on how to nullify the Waratahs attack.

“The team have traveled back from South Africa well, and brought five points back, which we are pretty happy about. Now it’s about getting ready for a tough Waratahs match. They have really shown against New Zealand opposition what their attack can do, so we are doing a lot of work defensively to stop the Waratahs and their attack play.”

“Recovery is key. We felt there were some inaccuracies in our attack flow in our previous game and we will look to execute better this weekend.”

Chiefs team and injury news

There are seven changes to the starting fifteen that took the field against the Sharks.

In the forwards, Nathan Harris and Brodie Retallick return to the No.2 and 4 jerseys respectively, while flanker Mitchell Karpik gets a start at No.7. Veteran Liam Messam will wear the No.8 jersey.

Damian McKenzie and Anton Lienert-Brown return to the backline and Toni Pulu starts at right wing. It’s the first chance this season to see the midfield pairing of Charlie Ngatai and Lienert-Brown in action together.

Newest All Blacks recruits Karl Tu’inukuafe and Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi both feature in the 23, with Karl starting at loosehead and Te Toiroa on the bench.

Chiefs: 15 Solomon Alaimalo, 14 Toni Pulu, 13 Anton Lienert-Brown, 12 Charlie Ngatai (c), 11 Sean Wainui, 10 Damian McKenzie, 9 Brad Weber, 8 Liam Messam, 7 Mitch Karpik, 6 Luke Jacobson, 5 Michael Allardice, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Angus Ta’avao, 2 Nathan Harris, 1 Karl Tu’inukuafe

Substitutes: 16 Samisoni Taukei’aho, 17 Sam Prattley, 18 Jeff Thwaites, 19 Jesse Parete, 20 Matt Matich, 21 Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi, 22 Marty McKenzie, 23 Shaun Stevenson

Waratahs team and injury news

The return of halfback Nick Phipps to the starting XV is the only change to the run-on team that will take on the Chiefs this Saturday.

Waratahs Head Coach Daryl Gibson has also named rookie backrower Brad Wilkin on the bench, alongside veteran prop Paddy Ryan.

Waratahs: 15 Israel Folau, 14 Cam Clark, 13 Curtis Rona, 12 Kurtley Beale, 11 Taqele Naiyaravoro, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Michael Wells, 7 Michael Hooper (c), 6 Will Miller, 5 Rob Simmons, 4 Tom Staniforth, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Damien Fitzpatrick, 1 Tom Robertson.

Substitutes: 16 Tolu Latu, 17 Harry Johnson-Holmes, 18 Paddy Ryan, 19 Jed Holloway, 20 Brad Wilkin, 21 Jake Gordon, 22 Lalakai Foketi, 23 Bryce Hegarty