It is a big vote of confidence in rookie loosehead prop Mitchell Graham and his fellow starting pack against the Blues.
Chiefs coach Dave Rennieand his fellow coaches have retained an identical front eight for the Chiefs' run-on side to face the Crusaders in Christchurch on Friday night.
While much of the hoopla surrounding the team naming on Wednesday surrounded the return of Sonny Bill Williams to the No12 jersey and his midfield partner Charlie Ngatai, the retention of the entire starting eight for such a big match is hugely significant.
The Chiefs know the Crusaders will try and shut down their attack game at source, targeting the set-pieces and the breakdowns to disrupt the quality and speed of their ball. But Rennie has faith in the pack that did the job against the Blues and said re-selection was a reward for that performance.
"Those guys deserve another crack. They gave a pretty dominant display, especially at scrum time," Rennie said.
The selection of prop Mitchell Graham, who made his starting debut against the Blues, for a second start in a row is a big vote of confidence for the 24-year-old, 122kg front rower.
"Obviously Pauli [Manu] had a bit of a setback against the Stormers with his ribs and he's been a bit slow to come around," Rennie said. "He's getting better and better but it's a case of rewarding Mitch for a really strong display last time. Pauli will come into the game at some stage - I'm not sure when, but he'll get a crack no doubt."
With Mike Fitzgerald, a 50-game veteran, returning via the bench after being given the last game off and No 8 Liam Squire also on the bench for his second game since returning from a long concussion layoff, the forward reserves look particularly strong, and will need to be against a powerful Crusaders pack featuring five All Blacks as well as three more in the reserves.
Fitzgerald has not been able to oust either Matt Symons or All Blacks star Brodie Retallick from the starting second row despite some consistently strong form this year, but is likely to make an impact when he comes on.
"There's not much between any of those guys to be honest. Fitzy has been great and we tried to give him a bit of time out as him and Matt had shouldered a lot of workload early on," Rennie added.
"It's good to have Brodie back and he'll be better for the last encounter, while Matt's pretty much been running our lineout throughout so he's an important cog in that."
With five changes to the backline there is no doubt the return of Williams, a late scratching with a knee complaint against the Blues, and Ngatai after five weeks off with ankle/hamstring injuries is a huge boost.
The same applies to utility back Tim Nanai-Williams, who is returning after breaking a finger in a strong performance against the Stormers in Cape Town in round five, and has been slotted in on the right wing in place of Tom Marshall who moves to fullback in place of Damian McKenzie to add a bit of experience.
Elsewhere, Brad Weber comes in at halfback in place of All Black Augustine Pulu. Rennie said he felt Weber suited what they wanted to do against the Crusaders, meaning Pulu and centre Andrew Horrell move to the reserves to join Bryce Heem in a strong lineup of impact players.
Regardless of the weather conditions on Friday night the Chiefs know what to expect from the Crusaders on their home patch.
"There's supposed to be showers Friday but who knows what will happen - you can guarantee it will be cold anyway," Rennie said.
"The Crusaders play a very wide wide game, but they've got a lot of All Blacks in their pack and they've got the ability to apply pressure at set-piece and so on, have got a very good kicking game and I think regardless of the conditions they'll have a plan and it will be a hell of an arm wrestle."
CHIEFS: Tom Marshall, Tim Nanai-Williams, Charlie Ngatai, Sonny Bill Williams, James Lowe, Aaron Cruden, Brad Weber, Michael Leitch, Sam Cane, Liam Messam (captain), Brodie Retallick, Matt Symons, Ben Tameifuna, Hika Elliot, Mitchell Graham. Reserves: Quentin MacDonald, Siate Tokolahi, Pauliasi Manu, Mike Fitzgerald, Liam Squire, Augustine Pulu, Andrew Horrell, Bryce Heem.
Crusaders will be motivated: Article
