Rugby: Chiefs ready to apply hard lessons

James Wilson will receive valuable game time against the Highlanders. Photo / Rotorua Daily Post

Highlanders v Chiefs
Invercargill, 7.35pm today

There's an adage in sport that you learn much more in defeat than you ever do in victory.

That certainly appears to be true of the Chiefs, who have absorbed the lessons from last season's painful, injury-induced end-of-season meltdown; a run that took them from championship contenders to mid-table also-rans in the space of two weeks.

The hardships endured in Perth and South Africa came after a sparkling five-match winning run. It was a victorious stretch that showed the Chiefs they could compete with the best in the Super 14. But the twin lessons they learned from the defeats that followed were even more valuable. Firstly, the tournament is never won mid-season. And, most importantly, to compete with the best they need to be at their best. If they are to be a factor in the title race they need to have their best players available in the last two weeks of May.

"We've been through two years of pretty heavy injuries and we felt that the only way for us to get through this campaign really strongly was to make sure that we are managing players, and also building depth," coach Ian Foster said.

Cue a couple of contentious selections for tonight's trip to Invercargill to face the Highlanders.

Some of the changes are injury-enforced, such as the introduction of Southland fullback James Wilson on the wing for Sitiveni Sivivatu, while others, such as the naming of Sione Lauaki on the bench, are tactical.

The same cannot be said of the resting of form halfback Brendon Leonard and the promotion to the starting line-up of rookie second five-eighths Jackson Willison. Foster baulks at the term rotation, but he accepts there is an element of squad management in his thinking.

"I guess that is part of it. But, to be frank, no one is going to get a start if they don't deserve it and certainly in Toby [Morland], James [Wilson] and Jacko's situation they have prepared really well and we expect them to go out and play well for us."

If the Chiefs emerge from Invercargill with a second successive win, Foster's approach will look shrewd. He will have provided fringe players with valuable game time - there is a chance by the end of the 80 minutes all 28 players in the squad will have seen action this season - and will have lessened the burden on his senior hands.

But the difficulty for Foster is that the Chiefs' season is already teetering on a knife-edge. Should they lose a match they are strongly favoured to win, they will find themselves well off the playoff pace, and Foster's methods will be cast in an entirely different light. He could stand accused of having tinkered to his side's detriment, even of having taken the Highlanders too lightly.

"I understand that and I'd probably expect that if that was what it was," he said. "But it is not that. We've clearly lost Siti [Sivivatu] and Sos [Anesi] and we've been able to bring Mils and Sione back in. The fact that [Lauaki] is on the bench is probably a tribute to the three [loose forwards] who played last week. That loosie combination went very, very well for us.

"If we keep tracking up and growing our game then [this approach] could put us in a really strong position going into the last part of this championship."

There is a strong tactical element to holding Leonard and Lauaki back as potential trump cards late in the game. Both are well suited to and have extensive experience in the impact-player role.

"That has been a definite part of our thinking," Foster said.

"I'm not sure that Mils has got 80 minutes in him and we know we will have to manage him through this game."

Hooker Aled de Malmanche was another likely to run out of gas, he said.

"If you take those guys off but you can put Brendon and Sione back on then you are replacing a lot of experience with a lot of experience."

Having broken through for a first victory last week after beginning with three straight defeats, the Chiefs will be taking a valuable confidence boost into the match.

HIGHLANDERS:

Dagg/Smith
Smith/Lynn
Jason Shoemark
Johnny Leota
Fetu'u Vainikolo
Daniel Bowden
Jimmy Cowan (c)
Steven Setephano
Tim Boys
Adam Thomson
Hayden Triggs
Josh Bekhuis
Clint Newland
David Hall
Chris King

Reserves: Jason Rutledge, Anthony Perenise, Tom Donnelly, George Naoupu, Sean Romans, Mathew Berquist, Kendrick Lynn/Jayden Hayward.

CHIEFS:

Mils Muliaina (c)
Lelia Masaga
Richard Kahui
Jackson Willison
James Wilson
Stephen Donald
Toby Morland
Liam Messam
Serge Lilo
Tanerau Latimer
Kevin O'Neill
Craig Clarke
Ben May
Aled de Malmanche
Sona Taumalolo

Reserves: Hika Elliot, James McGougan, Mark Burman, Sione Lauaki/Colin Bourke, Brendon Leonard, Mike Delany, Dwayne Sweeney