As long-term readers of the BoP Mafia website will know, we have only respect and admiration for the Chiefs super-coach Ian Foster and his long and proud tenure has brought glory to our franchise region. After the narrow defeat to the Crusaders last Friday, we heard some nay-sayers claiming that the super-coach doesn't have a gameplan for his clutch of outstanding individuals.

We at the BoP Mafia know this is a scandalous untruth, not only due to our admiration for super-coach but also because we were listening outside the Chiefs room just before they went out onto the field. So we know he had a plan and to prevent futher malicious rumours spreading, here is his speech in full.

Culum Retallick drops to the bench for the Crusaders game as Craig Clarke returns, hopefully this is just rotation as the lad has taken on a heavy workload to date. Only other change is de Malmanche starting as Elliot is injured with Vern Kamo onto the bench. 

1. Sona Taumalolo, 2. Aled de Malmanche, 3. Nathan White, 4. Craig Clarke, 5. Romana Graham, 6. Liam Messam, 7. Tanerau Latimer, 8. Colin Bourke
9. Brendon Leonard, 10.Stephen Donald, 11.Sitiveni Sivivatu, 12.Callum Bruce, 13.Richard Kahui, 14.Lelia Masaga, 15.Mils Muliaina (captain)

Reserves: 16. Vern Kamo, 17. Ben Afeaki, 18. Culum Retallick, 19. Luke Braid, 20. Junior Poluleuligaga, 21. Mike Delany, 22. Dwayne Sweeney.

We've cranked the old steam engine and arrived in the new decade - and we are now on Twitter. Follow us @bopmafia for the latest updates, breaking news and anything else we can think of. We may even do live scoring during the season if we can get the technology worked out.

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The Chiefs team has been named for Friday night's game against the Reds in Hamilton.
 
1. Sona Taumalolo 2. Hika Elliot 3. Nathan White 4. Romana Graham 5. Culum Retallick 6. Liam Messam 7. Tanerau Latimer 8. Colin Bourke 9. Brendon Leonard 10. Stephen Donald 11. Sitiveni Sivivatu 12. Callum Bruce 13. Richard Kahui 14. Lelia Masaga 15. Mils Muliaina (captain)

Reserves: 16. Aled de Malmanche 17.Toby Smith 18. Jarrad Hoeata 19. Luke Braid 20. Junior Poluleuligaga 21. Mike Delany 22. Dwayne Sweeney

Amazing stuff. 3 wins from 3 on the road for the Chiefs, 2 bonus points secured and 7 out of the final 10 games are at home. This is strange territory for the Chiefs, who specialise in terrible starts followed by great runs and then a flop at the end of the season to miss the top 4 (except last season of course).