All Black Wallace Sititi may miss Super Rugby season for Chiefs

Wallace Sititi is having surgery on his knee. Photo / Photosport

The Chiefs are facing a nervous wait to discover whether Wallace Sititi will miss the entire Super Rugby Pacific campaign.

The All Blacks loose forward sustained a knee injury on the end-of-year tour and will have surgery on Friday before learning the extent of the damage.

Sititi, who had a breakout season for the Chiefs in 2024, posted to social media on New Year’s Eve, saying a “tough start to the year” was coming.

And Chiefs coach Clayton McMillan told media the 22-year-old could miss a significant chunk of the Super Rugby season.

“The fact that he’s got to have surgery gives you an indication that it’s reasonably serious, but we don’t know how serious at this stage,” McMillan said. “He’s able to walk around, so it’s one of those little niggles that you never really truly know the extent of until you get under the surgeon’s knife and they can give some clarity to that.

“It happened on the end-of-year tour and it’s taken a while to get to this point because he just hasn’t had the surgeons available to . . . operate on.”

A long-term absence would be a big blow for the Chiefs, who open the season against the Blues on February 15 in a rematch of last year’s final. McMillan said Sititi’s prognosis would be known soon after surgery and the team would then assess their options to replace the dynamic ball-carrier.

“A huge loss,” McMillan said. “Everyone’s seen how he’s played over the last 12 months and it’s never nice to lose players of that calibre.

“He generates a lot of excitement for his ability, we’ll miss him, and all we can do is jump in behind the young man and help with his rehab, however long that takes, and get him back out on the field as quickly as possible.”