New All Blacks captain Sam Cane will make his first appearance since his appointment, when he runs out for the Chiefs against the Crusaders on Sunday.
With incumbent Kieran Read stepping down from the national team after last year's Rugby World Cup, Cane was named as his successor during the two-month coronavirus hiatus, beating out veteran lock Sam Whitelock for the honours.
But since the revamped Super Rugby Aotearoa competition kicked off this month, the loose forward has been sidelined with a back niggle unrelated to the career-threatening neck injury suffered two years ago.
"At this stage, he's good to go," confirms Chiefs coach Warren Gatland. "It was important that he got through Wednesday's training session - if he hadn't, we wouldn't be playing him.
"He's taking part in some unit stuff this morning, so he'll be OK for Sunday.
"It's massive for us. There's no doubt we've got some other quality players in the side, but it's just having that voice.
'If you look through our forward pack at the moment, Sam brings voice, leadership and experience. We don't have a lot of talkers, especially with two young locks who are learning and plying their trade.
"Our front-rowers don't say a lot, and Pita Gus just gets on and does a job. We've got a lot of doers, and Sam bringing that voice and communication is huge for us."
Gatland says Cane's workload will depend on the tempo of the game and if the high-penalty trend continues, he may see out the full 80 minutes.
Cane takes the No.7 jersey against the Crusaders, moving Lachlan Bashier to the blindside flank.
Searching for his first win in the NZ-derby format, Gatland has made several changes to the line-up that fell to the Blues last week.
Mitchell Brown returns to the second row and Brad Slater will start at hooker, while Solomon Alaimalo will take his place on the right wing.
Last time they met, the Chiefs defeated their rivals 25-15 before the Super rugby season closed down, but they have struggled to replicate that form since the restart, dropping a heartbreaker to the Highlanders two weeks ago.
"We were disappointed with our performance against the Blues and we know we are better than that." he says. "We are under no illusion that this weekend will be another challenging game.
"The Crusaders are a sharp team and can quickly punish teams for their mistakes. We need to be alert when we are defending and sharp on attack to allows us to capitalise on any opportunities presented to us."
Meanwhile, Crusaders coach Scott Robertson has retained the same starting line-up that manhandled the Hurricanes in Wellington last Sunday.
Centre Braydon Ennor left the field with a suspected hamstring injury during that contest, but that diagnosis was downgraded to a bruise during the week.
"We know the nature of the competition," says Robertson. "It is a spring, it's short and sharp.
"It's really important to get off to a good start, and that's what we've done with the team that played well last week and rewarded them."
Chiefs: 1-Aidan Ross, 2-Bradley Slater, 3-Nepo Laulala, 4-Mitchell Brown, 5-Naitoa Ah Kuoi, 6-Lachlan Boshier, 7-Sam Cane, 8-Pita Gus Sowakula, 9-Brad Weber, 10-Aaron Cruden, 11-Sean Wainui, 12-Anton Lienert-Brown, 13-Quinn Tupaea, 14-Solomon Alaimalo, 15-Damian McKenzie
Reserves: 16-Samisoni Taukei’aho, 17-Reuben O’Neill, 18-Ross Geldenhuys, 19-Adam Thomson, 20-Mitchell Karpik, 21-Lisati Milo-Harris, 22-Kaleb Trask, 23-Tumua Manu
Crusaders: 1-Joe Moody, 2-Codie Taylor, 3-Michael Alaalatoa, 4-Samuel Whitelock, 5-Mitchell Dunshea, 6-Cullen Grace, 7-Billy Harmon, 8-Whetu Douglas, 9-Bryn Hall, 10-Richie Mo'unga, 11-George Bridge, 12-Jack Goodhue, 13-Braydon Ennor, 14-Sevu Reece, 15-Will Jordan
Reserves: 16-Brodie McAlister, 17-George Bower, 18-Oli Jager, 19-Luke Romano, 20-Ethan Blackadder, 21-Mitchell Drummond, 22-David Havili, 23-Leicester Faingaanuku
Join us at 3:35pm Sunday for live updates of the Chiefs v Crusaders Super Rugby Aotearoa clash
