The Chiefs look set to welcome back talisman lock Brodie Retallick for their Super Rugby Pacific game against the Force in Hamilton on Saturday.

Assistant coach Roger Randle said the short turnaround after returning to Hamilton on Monday meant there would not be clarity on their selection until Thursday.

However, he confirmed All Black Retallick, who has recovered from a broken thumb, was 'possibly' in contention to return to the side.

"He's very keen. He was keen last week, and he's keen again this week," he said.

Attention to key moments in their game will be the goal for the Chiefs as a result of lessons learned from their last-gasp 33-30 win over the Rebels in Melbourne on Sunday.

That effort reinforced the need to secure those moments, and managing back-to-back efforts to build momentum would be important against a Force team that had the ability to compete.

 

 

Randle said prop Ollie Norris had come on as a substitute and made an impact, not the least in scoring the winning try.

"He's a young prop on the rise and with his skill set the selectors at a higher level are looking at as well, he was really good," he said.

The Highlanders hadn't done the Chiefs any favours by achieving a record win over the Force, a team who, a few weeks earlier, had nearly beaten the competition leading Blues.

"Attacking wise, I see some similarities with Hawke's Bay. Mark Ozich, a pretty good coach, is over there doing attack, and Paul Tito is doing the forwards and lineouts. We can see some Hawke's Bay-Wellington influence there around some of their attack stuff and a few Kiwis as well.

That will include former Chiefs and All Blacks back Richard Kahui, who was suffered no sanctions after his red card against the Highlanders.

"They've got some nice options on attack and have put some teams under pressure. They had a close game against the Brumbies earlier in the year.

"If they can click and get going…they are a very good team," he said.