For the first time this season, the Chiefs have named an unchanged line-up. Now, as coach Dave Rennie says, is not the time for tinkering.
"Sometimes we've made changes because we've had some positions that were very tight and we've wanted to create competition," he said ahead of tomorrow's Super15 final against the Brumbies at a sold-out Waikato Stadium.
"Other times it's been because of injuries and there's been a few of those."
Rennie's consistency in selection depends on wing Lelia Masaga recovering from his ankle injury, which he is expected to do. He has kept faith in the Andrew Horrell and Charlie Ngatai midfield, which played together for the first time against the Crusaders last weekend.
It also means tighthead prop Ben Tameifuna gets the nod, despite being replaced by Ben Afeaki at halftime at Waikato Stadium. Hooker Mahonri's knee injury - he had surgery this week - means Rhys Marshall keeps his place on the reserves bench.
"A lot of it's about competition and by giving guys a crack you create depth ... they're a really good bunch. They push each other and help each other, but they're really competitive. And ultimately at this stage of the year you're looking to put the best XV on the track. Where we're lucky is we've got an outstanding bench. Sam Cane and Ben Afeaki and Bundee Aki were pretty impressive when coming off the bench last week."
All three will provide impetus against a Brumbies side that could tire after their long-haul travel from Pretoria, Johannesburg and Canberra. They arrived yesterday and will name their team this morning.
"I've heard that the Brumbies have recovered really well and you wouldn't have thought they had done a lot of travel," Rennie said. "They looked in really good spirits and so on. That's what we'd expect."
The Chiefs coach said there had been more media hype around the team's Ruakura headquarters this week, but otherwise not much had changed for the defending champions.
Asked if he had done anything differently in terms of bringing in motivational speakers, Rennie replied: "Our leaders have done a lot of talking this week. We've driven a lot of things from within, I think it would be artificial to bring someone in at this stage, especially for this sort of game."
