Back to Kiwiland we go as the champion Chiefs welcome the South Island underdogs to their Hamilton fortress.
Kick-off is at 08h35 SA time.
Chiefs: 15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Tim Nanai-Williams, 13 Robbie Fruean, 12 Charlie Ngatai, 11 Asaeli Tikoirotuma, 10 Aaron Cruden (captain), 9 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 8 Liam Messam, 7 Tanerau Latimer, 6 Nick Crosswell, 5 Matt Symons, 4 Michael Fitzgerald, 3 Ben Tameifuna, 2 Mahonri Schwalger, 1 Pauliasi Manu.
Replacements: 16 Rhys Marshall, 17 Jamie Mackintosh, 18 Josh Hohneck, 19 Tevita Koloamatangi, 20 Liam Squire, 21 Brad Webber, 22 Andrew Horrell, 23 James Lowe.
Highlanders: 15 Ben Smith (co-captain), 14 Richard Buckman, 13 Winston Stanley, 12 Shaun Treeby, 11 Malakai Fekitoa, 10 Lima Sopoaga, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Nasi Manu (co-captain), 7 John Hardie, 6 Gareth Evans, 5 Joe Wheeler, 4 Jarrad Hoeata, 3 Chris King, 2 Liam Coltman, 1 Kane Hames.
Replacements: 16 Brayden Mitchell, 17 Matias Diaz, 18 Craig Millar, 19 Josh Bekhuis, 20 Shane Christie, 21 Fumiaki Tanaka, 22 Trent Renata, 23 Phil Burleigh.
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Highlanders 16 Chief 7 HT
Sorry only started watching now so don’t know whats happened up to now.
Highlanders lose 2 line outs in a row and chiefs make good ground in counter. Scrum to chiefs 10 m from try line
Try! Chiefs score and cruden converts.
chf 14 hld 16
Great break by hld no 2. Ruined by players diving off their feet a ruck time
Both sides making numerous turnovers and making ground on counters.
Chiefs offside in highlanders 22. Highlanders line outs looking much better and now have a scrum in chiefs half
Penalty to highlanders. Chiefs scrum looking rather rubbish this half.
Converted. Lima striking well and extends lead.
Chf 14 hld 19
Chiefs threatened to score and a lucky half intercept gives the highlanders a lifeline. Poor pass from cruden may have cost the chiefs a try there.
Again. Chief getting within a meter of hld try line but a poor pass and control takes play back to half way. Chiefs press attack again but concede a penalty on hld 22
Damn. I had Chiefs by 12 on this one.
Highlanders putting massive pressure on chefs scrum. Almost almost intercept try for highlanders. 15 minutes left in game
@Mutley (Comment 11) : this game can go either way!
Try! Chiefs score. Up to tmo though
TMO is happy try awarded. Cruden lines up
Converted
Chf 21 hld 19
69 min
Hld on attack. They have a line out inside chf 22
Knock on and chfs boot downfield. Hld concede a penalty on the halfway where they throw the ball away. Cruden kicks for the corner. Line out within 22
Chiefs knock on and scrum to highlanders
2 minutes left and highlanders knock on. Chiefs attack and highlanders concede penalty in front of poles. Tmo checking for tip tackle
Nothing in it. Ref awards a scrum instead to chiefs. They just need to hold scrum and kick out
Chiefs win. FT chf 21 hld 19
Word of warning. Highlanders are not to be underestimated this year. Very strong scrum and not afraid to spread it out wide.
Had one or two chances been controlled better Highlanders would have won.
At least its better that last weekend on SB. Only got the Rebels/Cheetahs game wrong sofar
@gregkaos (Comment 23) : I agree, but I think their depth up front is a little suspect. That dominant scrum started to creak in the last 20 minutes.
@gregkaos (Comment 23) : yip but if the chiefs handling were better it could have been ugly for the highlanders, but they are looking good early on but that looks like it starting to become a trend