A minute silence has been held at the Brisbane Global Tens prior to the start of the Chiefs first match of day two for former player Sione Lauaki who passed away earlier on Sunday.
The Chiefs all stood tall in a circle, ahead of their game with the Panasonic Wild Knights, wearing black armbands to commemorate the former All Black, who played 70 Super Rugby games for the team.
A number of players were seen wiping tears away, including Liam Messam who played a number of games with Lauaki during his time in New Zealand.
The Chiefs did the job for Lauaki, going on to beat the Japanese Champions 33-5 in their third and final pool match.
The win was enough to secure the Chiefs a spot in the quarter-finals against the Queensland Reds.
Liam Messam is scheduled to return back to New Zealand following the match against the Reds along with hooker Hika Elliott.
"There's a number of guys who played a lot of footy with Wax," Chiefs coach Dave Rennie said.
"Liam Messam, in particular, is a great mate of his so it's been a pretty upsetting morning.
"We gave Liam the opportunity not to play and head home straight away but he was determined to go out and put out a performance for Wax.
"But Liam's going to go home tonight so he'll play in the quarter-final and that's probably it, and he'll go with our blessing.
"Not everyone knows Wax, but he played a hell of a lot of footy for the Chiefs and he's certainly highly respected amongst his mates.
"A lot of our management who have been in this group for a long time had a lot to do with Wax as well. It's just terrible news."
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