Kahui wants Chiefs to be hot property

BY DUNCAN JOHNSTONE

CHIEFS pin-up Richard Kahui is demanding his side get rid of their hot and cold reputation and prove a consistent force in next year's Super 14.

Kahui, on the comeback from shoulder surgery that wrecked his All Blacks year and Waikato season, looms as a key figure to the Chiefs hopes in 2010.

The Chiefs – New Zealand's best team this year with a runner-up finish – have yet to win a title in 14 attempts.

"We don't want to be a side that's hot one week and cold the next," the classy centre said. "We don't want seasons like that either.

"We want to be a side like the Crusaders, that do the business week after week, season after season.

"To be honest, there's more pressure coming from within the team than from outside. We have to sit down as a squad and work out the best way to do this.

"We have some great players and have a great franchise behind us with some great coaches. There's no reason we can't do it, we just need to really get stuck in."

And Kahui promises he will get stuck in, vowing to return to the game better than ever.

His year was wrecked when he put in a big tackle in the Super 14 final loss to the Bulls in Pretoria.

"It's been hard watching the All Blacks," Kahui admits of being sidelined since June. "It makes you realise how special that team is and how much you miss it.

"I know how much I want to be an All Black and get back there. In that way it's a good thing – it's made me really hungry and I've trained hard in the last few months."

It's the second major shoulder injury Kahui has suffered and he's found it easier this time around.

"I knew what to expect and how to handle it a bit better," he said.

"The first two months I did nothing, just let the repair heal. Then I went to Europe for a couple of weeks to break up my rehab. But I've been hard at it ever since.

"I'm feeling good, feeling strong... I want to come back better than I was."

Kahui expects the all-clear for physical contact to come in mid-December and says he will be putting the heat on coach Ian Foster for plenty of action in the lead-up to next year's championship.

"I've done the stuff in the gym and on the roads," he said. "The hardest thing will be confidence and that's only going to come with getting out there and banging around.

"I will be pushing `Fossie' to start me in all the pre-season games just to get some time under my belt and get some of that match fitness back."

With Chiefs skipper Mils Muliaina missing the first three rounds in a specially struck deal, and another All Black Lelia Masaga likely to be absent with a shoulder rehab of his own, Kahui's experience and x-factor loom as vital to the hopes of the traditionally slow-starter Chiefs.

- © Fairfax NZ News