Liam Messam and Sonny Bill Williams are set to leave the Chiefs after the franchise bowed out of the playoffs on Saturday in a 24-14 qualifier loss to the Highlanders.
Their destination – Rio, or at least that is the hope. Chiefs head coach Dave Rennie has confirmed that Messam, the Chiefs captain, will leave the team to focus entirely on making the New Zealand sevens team for next year’s Olympics.
While not yet confirmed, it’s the prevailing opinion that Williams will follow suit.
The departures add to what looks likely to be a busy off-season for the Chiefs with a large number of players leaving the franchise.
Outside backs Tom Marshall and Bryce Heem are both leaving for England, Horsea Gear to France and Tim Nanai-Williams to Japan.
Up forward Matt Symons and Mike FitzGerald are both leaving for English contracts, and dynamic tighthead prop Ben Tameifuna for France.
Rennie admitted that Messam’s departure would be a serious blow to the Chiefs.
“Not just his playing ability but his leadership – he’s very charismatic, incredibly passionate – he’ll be very difficult to replace.”
“But it’s exciting for him. He obviously won a gold medal at Commonwealth Games and to try and win an Olympic gold would be pretty special so we’ll fully support it and who knows, he may be back in ’17.”
Acknowledging the large number of departures, he did remain optimistic for the Chiefs’ 2016 season.
“There are still a lot of spots open and wider training group spots of course, but there’ll obviously be a fair few new faces coming in which is exciting,” Rennie said.
“There might be 10 or 11 changes with guys getting other opportunities and so on, but that’s pretty standard. We normally lose a quarter to a third of our side each year.”
The Chiefs were knocked out of the playoffs on Saturday night in a 24-14 loss to the Highlanders in Dunedin.
They struggled to the end of the year, losing five of their last seven matches before their season ended on Saturday.
Messam and Williams were both named in the All Blacks’ 41-man squad on Sunday, as were some of their fellow Chiefs, Hika Elliot, Brodie Retallick, Sam Cane and Tawera Kerr-Barlow.
The All Blacks are the reigning Rugby World Cup champions and New Zealand the reigning Commonwealth Rugby Sevens Silver Medallists.
The Rio 2016 Summer Olympics begin on August 5, 2016.
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