Super Rugby Aotearoa: Highlanders vs Chiefs kicks off new tournament
Watch Highlanders vs Chiefs, Saturday 8am, Sky Sports Action and Main Event
Friday 12 June 2020 15:23, UK
Rugby Union is back as the Highlanders and Chiefs battle it out in the first Super Rugby Aotearoa clash, live on Sky Sports!
More than 18,000 are expected at the first match in the New Zealand revamped professional rugby tournament in Dunedin on Saturday between the Highlanders and the Hamilton-based Chiefs. That is close to capacity for the Highlanders indoor stadium.
Fans will be able to sit shoulder to shoulder, to hug or high five, to fill buses and trains to and from matches. That's possible because New Zealand has not recorded a new COVID-19 infection in 22 days and has no active cases.
New Zealand Rugby devised the Super Rugby Aotearoa tournament to allow the return of professional rugby after the full, five-nation Super Rugby tournament was abandoned in March because of international travel restrictions and quarantine requirements.
Seven rounds of the tournament involving 15 teams from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina and Japan had been completed when the competition was halted. At that stage the Blues were in fourth place on the overall standings, the Chiefs fifth, the Hurricanes seventh and the Highlanders 13th. The Christchurch-based Crusaders, the 11-time Super Rugby champions who were atop the New Zealand conference, have a bye this weekend.
In Super Rugby Aotearoa, New Zealand's five franchises will play each other home and away over 10 weeks.
Anticipation of the return of professional rugby is high among fans. The Highlanders sold 4,000 tickets within four hours of sales opening Monday, an unprecedented number. Highlanders chief executive Roger Clark said of the 7,500 members contacted by the franchise, only 25 indicated they wouldn't attend.
Dunedin is a university town and attendance at Highlanders matches is boosted by a large number of students who are accommodated behind the goalposts at one end of the stadium in an enclosure known as The Zoo.
Super Rugby Aotearoa will feature rule changes designed to make matches more attractive to fans. In games in which scores are tied after regulation, the first team to score in a period of golden point extra time will win.
For the first time in professional rugby, players sent off with a red card can be replaced, but only after 20 minutes.
The Highlanders have named two debutants for Saturday's clash, with Canterbury winger Sam Gilbert to start on the right flank and All Blacks Sevens playmaker Vilimoni Koroi named on the bench.
Koroi wasn't meant to feature for the Highlanders this season, but given the postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, he's rejoined the squad in Dunedin. Josh Ioane starts at 10, with Mitch Hunt at full-back.
Chiefs head coach Warren Gatland has handed Kaleb Trask the No 10 jersey, with the experienced Aaron Cruden on the bench.
Taranaki flanker Lachlan Boshier will play his 50th game for the Chiefs, while they welcome back All Blacks prop Nepo Laulala from injury.
Highlanders: 15 Mitch Hunt, 14 Sam Gilbert, 13 Rob Thompson, 12 Patelesio Tomkinson, 11 Jona Nareki, 10 Josh Ioane, 9 Aaron Smith, 1 Ayden Johnstone, 2 Ash Dixon (c), 3 Siate Tokolahi, 4 Paripari Parkinson, 5 Josh Dickson, 6 Shannon Frizell, 7 Dillon Hunt, 8 Marino Mikaele Tu'u
Replacements: 16 Liam Coltman, 17 Daniel Lienert-Brown, 18 Jeff Thwaites, 19 Manaaki Selby-Rickit, 20 Teariki Ben-Nicholas, 21 Kayne Hammington, 22 Teihorangi Walden, 23 Vilimoni Koroi
Chiefs: 15 Damian McKenzie, 14 Shaun Stevenson, 13 Quinn Tupaea, 12 Anton Lienert-Brown, 11 Sean Wainui, 10 Kaleb Trask, 9 Brad Weber (c), 1 Aidan Ross, 2 Samisoni Taukei'aho, 3 Nepo Laulala, 4 Mitchell Brown, 5 Tupou Vaa'i, 6 Luke Jacobson, 7 Lachlan Boshier, 8 Pita Gus Sowakula
Replacements: 16 Bradley Slater, 17 Ryan Coxon, 18 Ross Geldenhuys, 19 Naitoa Ah Kuoi, 20 Dylan Nel, 21 Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi, 22 Aaron Cruden, 23 Etene Nanai-Seturo
