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I for one can’t get enough of these two teams.
It’s week five in Super Rugby Pacific and we already have a piece of repeat business. The Chiefs are set to welcome the Blues to FMG Stadium and Vern Cotter’s men will have revenge on their minds.
These two sides faced up in the final of last year's competition, met again in the opening round and now look set to settle a best of three in round five. Clayton McMillan’s side came away with the win last time out, not quite payback for losing out on silverware but perhaps another win will help ease the pain.
The Chiefs sit atop of the competition with the Blues second last, but don’t let their positions this early in the season fool you. The incumbent champions are determined not to suffer any hangover from last year’s championship. It’s been a slow start for the Blues who have missed their star No.8 Hoskins Sotutu. After missing the opening round of competition, Sotutu is currently seeing out a three match ban and his presence in and out of the team has been a factor in the Blues struggling for consistency.
It was a wet day out in Auckland the last time these two teams face off. Damian McKenzie was the star of the show in round one and returns to the ten shirt after missing out last weekend.
Let's take a look at some of the key talking points ahead of this weekend’s clash.
There’s No Substitute for Star Talent
Even the Irish fans in Lansdowne road didn’t want to see Antoine Dupont leaving the field last weekend. While the French went on to record a massive win away from home anyway, there’s nothing worse than being robbed of the opportunity to see the best of the best do their thing out on the rugby field. As fans, there’s just not substitute for star talent.
The same goes for Beuden Barrett who looks set to miss significant time with a hand injury. The All Black centurion looked back to his best last weekend when he started in his preferred ten shirt. Once again the Blues are forced to rejig their starting team and Harry Plummer returns to the starting team. Plummer was the man who steered this team to silverware last season but his job has become a whole lot harder with Barrett now out of the mix.
The Chiefs back row is relentless and will look to put Plummer under pressure from the get go so it’s important that Auckland's forwards lay a platform for him to unleash the Blues’ outside backs.
With One Eye on the Bench
Both head coaches have opted to spread their talent across the 23 man team with several important players being named on the bench. I think it’s important to highlight that both coaches see this game going down to the wire and in an effort to make sure performance levels don’t drop in the latter stages of the game they’ve held the likes of Cortez Ratima, Samisoni Taukei'aho, Samipeni Finau, Angus Ta'avao-Matau, Finlay Christie and AJ Lam in reserve.
A key stat gathered by the team at Opta notes, that the Chiefs have had five tries scored by substitute players this year, the most of any team in the competition. Whereas the Blues are the only team who haven’t had a try scored by a substitute this season.
These All Blacks kept in reserve will be tasked with punching holes and swerving tiring defenders in the closing quarter of the match. Vern Cotter has made an effort to keep some of his talent fresh on the bench but the Chiefs look primed to dominate that area again this week.
The Chiefs are flying high this season and a home loss against the Brumbies last week means the Auckland side have had to pick themselves up and dust themselves off once again. Once too many times and we’re only in round five. Did the boys in blue put too much into the knockout stages of last year’s competition? Are they suffering from the strain of finals footy? Well this Chiefs team seems to be the exception to that rule.
A win away from home could be the turning point for this side who are littered with quality.
| # | Team | PL | W | L | D | PD | BP | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Chiefs | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 47 | 2 | 14 |
| 2 |  Waratahs | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 1 | 13 |
| 3 |  Highlanders | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 10 |
| 4 |  Crusaders | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 09 |
| 5 |  Queensland Reds | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 09 |
| 6 |  Brumbies | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | -13 | 1 | 09 |
| 7 |  Hurricanes | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | -15 | 1 | 09 |
| 8 |  Western Force | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | -24 | 1 | 09 |
| 9 |  Fijian Drua | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | -9 | 3 | 07 |
| 10 |  Moana Pasifika | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | -14 | 2 | 06 |
| 11 |  Blues | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | -16 | 2 | 06 |
