Chiefs head coach Colin Cooper has made four changes to his pack while the backline remains unchanged for Saturday's clash with the Reds in Brisbane.
Cooper has handed starts to loosehead prop Karl Tu’inukuafe, hooker Liam Polwart, lock Tyler Ardron and number eight Pita Gus Sowakula.
On the bench, Samisoni Taukei’aho gets his first opportunity of the season, and Sam Prattley – who has been brought in this week as an interim injury replacement – is in line to make his Chiefs debut, bringing over 30 Super Rugby caps of experience to the side. Brad Weber makes a return into the matchday 23, now recovered from his wrist injury.
Cooper is not discouraged about last weeks’ loss to conference leaders the Hurricanes.
“Coming off a loss makes us more determined," he said. "We were disappointed with the conversion rate of the line breaks, but the good thing about that game is that there were opportunities, but we just didn’t finish them.
“Playing the Reds in Brisbane will be a tough assignment, and we’ve worked really hard with the leaders on having the right mindset.
"The Reds have a number of threats, with their loose forwards, midfielders and outside backs all big carriers of the ball. We need to put everything on the line for this game, with a bit of a break coming in the form of a bye next week."
Chiefs: 15 Charlie Ngatai, 14 Sean Wainui, 13 Anton Lienert-Brown, 12 Johnny Fa'auli, 11 Solomon Alaimalo, 10 Damian McKenzie, 9 Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi, 8 Pita Gus Sowakula, 7 Sam Cane (c), 6 Lachlan Boshier, 5 Tyler Ardron, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Angus Ta’avao, 2 Liam Polwart, 1 Karl Tu’inukuafe
Replacements: 16 Samisoni Taukei’aho, 17 Sam Prattley, 18 Jeff Thwaites, 19 Luke Jacobson, 20 Liam Messam, 21 Brad Weber, 22 Marty McKenzie, 23 Alex Nankivell
Date: Saturday, April 21
Venue: Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Kick-off: 19:45 local (09:45 GMT)
Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Nicholas Berry (Australia), Jordan Way (Australia)
Television match official: Damien Mitchelmore (Australia)
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