Chief v Hurricanes: Liam Messam’s fears – Super Rugby preview
Liam Messam the Chiefs captain believes that the fact that Hurricanes’ are short of Investec Super Rugby experience will only help to fire them up. Chiefs and Hurricanes will be facing each other this weekend in a crucial match. Meanwhile, the hosts will
looking forward to win this one with composure, after losing to Highlanders in haste during their season opening match.
Hurricanes didn’t play last weekend and had three weeks’ time to prepare for this one. After the Christchurch earthquake, Crusaders cancelled the match with Hurricanes, which they accepted and the match was declared as a draw.
Messam believes in the abilities of Hurricanes and fears the long break has made them craving for some action. He said, “I think if we put ourselves in their shoes and if we had only one game in three weeks, we would be full of energy and wanting to start
running around again.”
On the other hand, Hurricanes fans have been waiting for their club's match for long. The blog posts and comments on the rugby forums have clearly shown the hype that has been created prior to this clash.
The Hurricanes' players also seem quite excited about the match. Massam said, "I've talked to some of their players and they are really excited about getting back out on the field. They were always going to be a hard challenge, so we're under no illusions."
Mils Muliaina will be out due to injury, so the regular skipper will be replaced by Liam Messam in number eight jersey. After picking up fractures in his back, Mils Muliaina will be kept off the field for at least four consecutive weeks. He got injured during
a tackle while playing against Melbourne Rebels last week.
To fill in the gap created by the All Blacks fullback, Tim Nana Williams the young utility back has been included in the squad against Rebels. This is the only visible change on the starting line-up so far.
Ian Foster, the coach for Chiefs has decided to make no changes this time, after consecutively making abrupt changes in the squad during the past Super Rugby fixtures. Foster seems content with the current line-up after the satisfactory 38-10 victory and
has opted for stability in the squad.
After getting thrashed by Highlanders and the Brumbies, the bonus point for those four tries was refreshing and morale boosting for Chiefs. At last, their out wide strikers' strategy worked and their weapons at those positions worked. Sitiveni Sivivatu and
Lelia Masaga turned out to be useful shotguns and fired at the right places at the right time.
Despite this plus point, Messam believes that the tight heads' performance was the key factor and he would like the same formation to take charge this time too. Talking about the tight head position, he said, "They don't get much attention and they just
concentrate on their work week-in and week-out. That's the good thing about them. They just want to do what they need to do for the team."
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