Rugby: Big Chief sees plenty for boys to smile about

Mils Muliaina is hopeful he won't be off the pace in his next Chiefs outing. Photo / Christine Cornege

When Mils Muliaina rejoined his troops this week he might have expected them to be full of the joys of life. Instead he encountered long faces and short tempers.

It's not that they were disappointed to see their leader, but the night flight from Perth and the short turnaround between games had left a few well short of the requisite eight hours' sleep.

"They only got back on Monday so they were pretty tired and it was a pretty disrupted week," Muliaina said. "There have been some grumpy guys around, in terms of lack of sleep."

Training returned to somewhere near normal yesterday and, anyway, the Chiefs have little to be grumpy about for long.

The fact that they have picked up three wins on the road also made it easier for the absentee skipper to watch.

"It would have been hard watching them if they went the other way but it hasn't turned out like that. To go away to South Africa and pick up 14 points out of 15, we've never done that before so it's something special.

"In the past we've started off pretty slow but this year it is different so hopefully we can carry on that momentum," Muliaina said.

The classy 29-year-old fullback played 80 minutes for his Te Rapa club side at the weekend and is optimistic he will not be off the pace, although he knows "it's going to hurt at certain times".

Coach Ian Foster, who has been served well by Mike Delany and Tim Nanai-Williams at the back in Muliaina's absence, has assembled a potent back three, with Sitiveni Sivivatu returning earlier than expected from a shoulder injury to take his place on the left wing.

With Lelia Masaga having made an immediate impact on return against the Force, the coach is playing with a stacked deck out wide.

It's not the same story in the forwards, where Sione Lauaki (suspension), the injured locking pair of Kevin O'Neill and Craig Clarke and prop James McGougan are still unavailable.

Still, he has an embarrassment of riches compared with Ewen McKenzie.

A difficult assignment for the Reds was made tougher by the withdrawal of their most penetrative outside back, Digby Ioane, with an injured knee.

The Reds were already without fullback Peter Hynes (finger) and wing Rod Davies (cheekbone) for the match, and McKenzie will now have to name a completely changed back three.

McKenzie decided against taking a gamble on winger Ioane's fitness.

"The feeling is that it's better to get it right," he said. "There was an opportunity to leave the decision right until the game, but even then there would be some doubt, so we have left it so he can regain full fitness for the Western Force game [on March 14].

"We've still got a lot of games to go."

McKenzie expects to name his starting lineup today.

Foster's difficulties were more to do with who to start and who to leave on the bench. The biggest dilemma was at hooker, where he chose the in-form Hika Elliot over All Black Aled de Malmanche.

"We felt he deserved that in terms of his contribution on and off the park," Foster said of Elliot's selection.

"It's not really a selection issue in terms of who we think is No 1 and 2 at the moment because we're pretty delighted with the way Aled is playing at the moment. It's really a management issue through these early rounds, particularly with all the travel we've had."

- ADDITIONAL REPORTING: AAP