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Chiefs vs Waratahs: Super Rugby live scores, blog

26th May, 2018
Where: Waikato Stadium, Hamilton
Date: Saturday 26th May 2018
When: Kick off 5:35pm AEST
TV: Foxsports
Betting: Chiefs $1.32, Waratahs $3.40

Chiefs
15 Solomon Alaimalo
14 Toni Pulu
13 Anton Lienert-Brown
12 Charlie Ngatai (c)
11 Sean Wainui
10 Damian McKenzie
9 Brad Weber
8 Liam Messam
7 Mitch Karpik
6 Luke Jacobson
5 Michael Allardice
4 Brodie Retallick
3 Angus Ta’avao
2 Nathan Harris
1 Karl Tu’inukuafe

16 Samisoni Taukei’aho
17 Sam Prattley
18 Jeff Thwaites
19 Jesse Parete
20 Matt Matich
21 Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi
22 Marty McKenzie
23 Shaun Stevenson

Waratahs
15 Israel Folau
14 Cam Clark
13 Curtis Rona
12 Kurtley Beale
11 Taqele Naiyaravoro
10 Bernard Foley
9 Nick Phipps
8 Michael Wells
7 Michael Hooper
6 Will Miller
5 Rob Simmons
4 Tom Staniforth
3 Sekope Kepu
2 Damien Fitzpatrick
1 Tom Robertson

16 Tolu Latu
17 Harry Johnson-Holmes
18 Paddy Ryan
19 Jed Holloway
20 Brad Wilkin
21 Jake Gordon
22 Lalakai Foketi
23 Bryce Hegarty

Referees
Referee: Glen Jackson
Assistant Referees: Angus Mabey, Cam Stone
TMO: Aaron Paterson

Form
Chiefs - LWLWL
Waratahs - WLLLW

Played 21
Chiefs won 8
Waratahs won 13
The Waratah's Israel Folau celebrates a try. (Photo by Speed Media/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Expert
26th May, 2018
278
5894 Reads

Match result:

It was a hard-fought battle, but the Chiefs have come away 12-point winners over the Waratahs.

» Click here to read the full match report

Final score
Chiefs 39
Waratahs 27

Match preview:

The Chiefs go head-to-head with the Waratahs on Saturday evening in Hamilton as both sides look to build momentum into the final rounds of the competition. Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match, starting from 5:35pm AEST.

The Tahs will be bubbling with confidence after the past couple of weeks – they have delivered two impressive performances against strong Kiwi opposition with last week’s win over the Highlanders giving the whole of Australian rugby something to smile about at last.

Combined with this confidence will be a settled line-up with just Nick Phipps as a newbie to the starting line up.

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The Tahs have got some exciting players in their backline who will be hoping for dry weather and a fast track to put the Chiefs defence under pressure.

Obviously Israel Folau is a huge weapon – he’s scored seven tries in his last six games against Kiwi teams and his aerial ability is something that the Tahs will look to exploit.

But Folau is not the only threat with Taqele Naiyaravoro sitting second in the top try scoring list for this season and always dangerous if he can get the space to build up pace.

If Bernard Foley and Kurtley Beale can put these guys in space then the Tahs will rack up some serious points.

But as always that space is going to need to come from the forwards and it’s here where the Chiefs will know they need to dominate.

Brodie Retallick’s return will be a big help in this area and he will need to lead from the front. Unfortunately they will definitely miss Sam Cane in the back row and players like Liam Messam, Mitch Karpik and Luke Jacobson will need to work hard to deny Phipps the fast ball he’ll be after.

The Chiefs will be happy to see Damian McKenzie back in the No.10 shirt. On Friday we saw Mo’unga put in an impressive performance as he helped the Crusaders overcome Beauden Barrett’s Hurricanes – in this match we’ll see the other contender for the All Blacks fly half spot and McKenzie has certainly been impressing this season.

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If the Chiefs can get quick ball and look to stretch the Tahs defence a bit then McKenzie will have plenty of gaps to scream through.

This game is important for lots of reasons. Both sides will know that a good bonus point win here will help their cause for finals rugby, but beyond that this game will see whether the Aussies have found a way to beat Kiwi sides consistently or if the win over the 14 man Highlanders side last week was just a flash in the pan.

Prediction
The Tahs are in some rich form at the moment and they have plenty of scoring threats for the Chiefs to contend with.

But with the Chiefs at home and with many of their top talent returning they should have enough to get the win.

Chiefs to win by 10.

Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match, starting from 5:35pm AEST on Saturday.

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