Chiefs head coach Dave Rennie has named his strongest possible team to do battle with the Crusaders in Saturday’s Super Rugby semi-final in Christchurch.
There are just two changes to the run-on side that defeated the Stormers 17-11 in a spirited Cape Town quarter-final contest last weekend.
Resilient midfielder Charlie Ngatai returns from an ankle injury to start at inside centre, with veteran utility back Stephen Donald vacating the number 12 jersey to bolster the bench.
Experienced Samoan international Tim Nanai-Williams is promoted from the reserves to start on the right wing. This means that Solomon Alaimalo drops out of the matchday squad.
Chiefs: 15 Damian McKenzie, 14 Tim Nanai-Williams, 13 Anton Lienert-Brown, 12 Charlie Ngatai, 11 James Lowe, 10 Aaron Cruden (cc), 9 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 8 Michael Leitch, 7 Sam Cane (cc), 6 Liam Messam, 5 Brodie Retallick, 4 Mitchell Brown, 3 Nepo Laulala, 2 Nathan Harris, 1 Kane Hames
Replacements: 16 Liam Polwart, 17 Aidan Ross, 18 Atu Moli, 19 Dominic Bird, 20 Lachlan Boshier, 21 Finlay Christie, 22 Stephen Donald, 23 Shaun Stevenson
Date: Saturday, July 29
Venue: AMI Stadium, Christchurch
Kick-off: 19:35 local (07:35 GMT)
Referee: Glen Jackson
Assistant Referees: Angus Gardner, Ben O’Keeffe
TMO: Glenn Newman
The post Ngatai returns for Chiefs appeared first on Planet Rugby.