Chiefs coach Clayton McMillan. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Chiefs v Blues
Kick-off: 7:05pm Saturday 7 May
FMG Stadium Waikato, Hamilton
Live updates on RNZ Sport
Chiefs coach Clayton McMillan isn't letting the defending champion Blues inclement form affect his judgement ahead of their play-off on Saturday night. McMillan, who will leave the Chiefs after the season ends to take up a contract with Irish province Munster, said that the Blues are not an easy team to prepare for.
"They've got strengths across the park. They've got good pace, physical on defense. They don't give you much," McMillan said, reflecting on the Chiefs' two very contrasting wins over the Blues this season.
"You just respect the opposition that's directly in front of you; they all bring different strengths to the table. They're the reigning champions and, and they've got quality littered throughout their team. So, we're not going to get anything for free."
The Chiefs scored a physical yet ultimately comfortable 41-10 win over the Blues at Eden Park in round one. However, the return match five weeks later was one of the mist exciting games all year, with a missed conversion of a late Rieko Ioane try proving crucial in the 32-31 result.
McMillan confirmed the surprise benching of Wallace Sititi is due to a slight injury picked up in their last game, against the Highlanders in Dunedin. It's meant that Simon Parker, Samipeni Finau and Luke Jacobson will be the starting loose forward trio, a group the McMillan has full faith in.
Simon Parker. Photo: Aaron Gillions/ActionPress
"(Sititi has) taken a limited part in training through the front end of the week and for a game of this magnitude, you need to have everybody firing on all cylinders. Wallace wasn't able to do that at the front end of the week. But also pretty pleased in some of those positions and don't feel like it's a backward step for anyone, guys that have been going at it all year and, this time it's Wallace's turn to come off the bench."
McMillan described the 197cm, 117kg Parker's season so far as "immense" and hinted at higher honours for the 25-year-old flanker.
"Probably one of our best and most consistent performers. And when you get to this point of the season, that's an opportunity. We keep hearing it from further up the food chain that this is where they want to see, players really shining under the spotlight of finals for the year."
McMillan had a one word answer when asked if Parker was ready to make a step up to the All Blacks: "yup".
The Chiefs are effectively playing for the right to host the final if they make it, a loss on Saturday would simply keep the Blues alive more than anything else. Even then a loss still means the Chiefs host a semi-final next weekend against presumably the Hurricanes or Brumbies, if results go that way.
That home ground advantage will certainly be worth fighting for, though. The Chiefs have lost two finals in a row and will be aiming to send McMillan out on a high note. The coach dropped a quote from the Fast and the Furious to sum up how his side will approach the finals:
"It doesn't matter whether it's an inch or a mile. Winning is winning."
