Rugby: Colin Cooper ready to fight to retain Karl Tu'inukuafe

Chiefs coach Colin Cooper has made it clear teams hoping to poach breakout star prop Karl Tu'inukuafe will have a fight on their hands.

Called into the Chiefs' Super Rugby squad as injury cover early in the season, Tu'inukuafe has flourished alongside fellow prop Angus Ta'avao – also originally signed as injury cover.

The loosehead prop's play didn't go unnoticed, earning him an All Blacks call up for the French series, during which he made his debut for the national side.

A hard worker up front for the Chiefs and a beast at scrum time, there are talks that the Highlanders may be looking to lure Tu'inukuafe away from the Hamilton-based club.

"We'll do everything we can to keep him," Cooper said of the Chiefs' intentions with the prop. "We'll find room to keep him."

After the Chiefs lost all six of their originally contracted props to injury early in the season, Tu'inukuafe has been a reliable workhorse. In eight starts, the 25-year-old has played fewer than 60 minutes only once – in the second game of their two-match road trip to South Africa.

Cooper will be looking for another solid outing from Tu'inukuafe against the Brumbies this weekend, with fellow All Black Brodie Retallick likely to remain sidelined with a pectoral injury, and prop Nepo Laulala's return from an arm injury delayed.

Retallick suffered the injury against the Crusaders at the start of June and, while he was on the verge of returning, was not yet ready to be redeployed in the Chiefs lineup.

"[It's] unlikely," Cooper said of Retallick's possible return this weekend. "That's the best answer I can give you at the moment."