Donald to captain Chiefs-Lions showdown

Stephen Donald will captain the Chiefs in their showdown with the British and Irish Lions in Hamilton on Tuesday night.

Today Chiefs coach Dave Rennie named his team to play the Lions which includes a lot of fringe players with many first choice players on All Black duties, or have just lined up for New Zealand Maori in their 32-10 loss to the Lions in Rotorua last night.

Although loose forward Liam Messam and hooker Hika Elliot have been named on the bench and will back up from the New Zealand Maori game.

With regular first five‑eighth Aaron Cruden on All Black duty Donald will get a chance to add to his impressive rugby CV.

The Chiefs will host the British & Irish Lions at 7.35pm Tuesday.

Chiefs:

Shaun Stevenson, Toni Pulu, Tim Nanai‑Williams, Johnny Fa'auli, Solomon Alaimalo, Stephen Donald (c), Finlay Christie, Tom Sanders, Lachlan Boshier, Mitch Brown, Michael Allardice, Dominic Bird, Nepo Laulala, Liam Polwart, Siegfried Fisiihoi.

Reserves: Hika Elliot, Aidan Ross, Atu Moli, Liam Messam, Mitch Karpik, Jonathan Taumateine, Luteru Laulala, Chase Tiatia.