TOP LEAGUE
Former Crusaders and Wallabies coach Robbie Deans worries about the game in the south as Japan s Top League goes from strength to strength.
All Blacks playmaker Damian McKenzie has been listed to start at first five-eighth for the Chiefs in Saturday s game of three halves against the Crusaders and the Blues in Cambridge. The Chiefs have welcomed back their All Blacks for the pre-season fixture, including national captain Sam Cane, Brad Weber, Anton Lienert-Brown and Tupou Vaa’i, and each can play up to 40 minutes at Hautapu s Memorial Park. McKenzie has been named at 10 for the second half against the Blues, an indication perhaps that new coach Clayton McMillan is thinking about returning him there after switching to fullback permanently in 2019.
“Sam will still be the captain. but what we want to do is give him some support, not just around the on-field stuff, but the off-field stuff,” McMillan said. “Captaincy can be a big weight to carry on one person’s shoulders. So if we can get some common agreement on who that other person might be, then that’s certainly the motivation, to have co-captains.
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Chiefs coach Clayton McMillan said it was important they shared the load on the national skipper. “It’s not something that’s entirely foreign to the Chiefs, and they’ve had good success doing that in the past.”