Sharks v Chiefs
Durban, 6.10am tomorrow
The understudy has missed his cue, so Ian Foster has been forced to call up the under-understudy.
Liam Messam will lead the Chiefs against the Sharks in Durban tomorrow morning after Sione Lauaki was withdrawn.
The blockbusting No 8 had an abscess on his arm that yesterday needed to be drained. He cut it against the Hurricanes in Rotorua and the wound became infected.
"While he is feeling better now, it is not going to be ready for the weekend's game," Foster said.
Lauaki was himself deputising for Mils Muliaina, with the All Black fullback exercising his contractual right to miss the first three weeks of the Super 14.
Bay of Plenty's Colin Bourke will take Lauaki's place at No 8, with Messam on the blind. Tanerau Latimer - who plays his 100th first-class match tomorrow - starts at openside flanker.
The feature of the backline is the selection of first five-eighths Mike Delany at fullback.
Callum Bruce has been ruled out, leaving Jackson Willison to partner Richard Kahui in the centres.
"We have other fit players available so we've decided to give him another week to fully recover," Foster said of Bruce.
Messam is no stranger to captaincy, having led Waikato in the Air New Zealand Cup.
In fact, when Muliaina's Super 14 break was announced, it was assumed by many that he was the logical choice of skipper. When the (c) appeared next to Lauaki's name, it had the hallmarks of a classic newspaper typo.
The occasionally blockbusting backrower has acquired a reputation for many things, but "natural born leader" was not one of them.
A player who tends to drift in and out of games at his leisure, Lauaki has in the past been just as likely to drop a clanger at a vital time as he is to break through tackles to set up a match-winning try.
But Foster saw something in him that suggested he could deputise for the classy Muliaina (who, incidentally, had his doubters when first named as captain as well, mainly because of where he stands on the field).
Foster believed Lauaki had a major impact on the culture of the team and that he had been displaying off-field leadership skills for the previous two years. If the 65-game Chief recovers from his injury in time, as expected, he will take the captain's arm band for the match against the Lions in Johannesburg next week.
SHARKS v CHIEFS
Sharks
Stefan Terblanche
Odwa Ndungane
Waylon Murray
Andries Strauss
JP Pietersen
Monty Dumond
Rory Kockott
Ryan Kankowski
Jean Deysel
Keegan Daniel
Johann Muller
Steven Sykes
John Smit (c)
B. du Plessis
Tendai Mtawarira
Reserves: Jannie du Plessis, Gerhard Mostert, Jacques Botes, Willem Alberts, Ruan Pienaar, Adrian Jacobs, Craig Burden.
Chiefs
Mike Delany
Dwayne Sweeney
Richard Kahui
Jackson Willison
Sitiveni Sivivatu
Stephen Donald
Brendon Leonard
Colin Bourke
Tanerau Latimer
Liam Messam (c)
Kevin O'Neill
Craig Clarke
Nathan White
A. de Malmanche
Sona Taumalolo
Reserves: Hika Elliot, Ben Afeaki, James McGougan, Culum Retallick, Jarrad Hoeata, Junior Poluleuligaga, Tim Nanai-Williams.
