Another injury blow for Warren Gatland's Chiefs
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Warren Gatland's Chiefs crashed to an unwanted record in round seven of Super Rugby Aotearoa with the 21-17 loss handing Gatland's men their seventh straight loss in a row.
The Chiefs have lost their past seven games across both Super Rugby and the domestic competition and Sunday’s defeat was a team-record seventh in succession.
The news hasn't got any better for the Chiefs since their loss with winger Solomon Alaimalo dislocated his left shoulder against the Blues and has been ruled out for the remainder of the Super Rugby Aotearoa season.
Alaimalo injured his shoulder in the act of scoring after he finished off a sweeping movement in which Brad Weber, Aaron Cruden and Anton Lienert-Brown combined beautifully for an attack down the blindside early in the second half.
Aaron Cruden 🤩#SuperRugbyAotearoa #BLUvCHI pic.twitter.com/j0m8l0cicd
— Ultimate Rugby (@ultimaterugby) July 26, 2020
Alaimalo has featured in four of the Chiefs' six games so far in Super Rugby Aotearoa and now adds to the long injury list at the Waikato-based franchise.
Warren Gatland's results at the Chiefs has come under fire but the former Wales boss now has no less than eight players unavailable to him for the remainder of Super Rugby.
The likes of Atu Moli (hips), Laghlan McWhannell (knee), Luke Jacobson (hand), Michael Allardice (shoulder), Nathan Harris (shoulder), Ryan Coxon (thumb), Sam McNicol (ankle) and now Solomon Alaimalo are unavailable to the side for the remainder of the competition.
Meanwhile, the likes of Angus Ta’avao (quad), Naitoa Ah Kuoi (concussion), Aidan Ross (calf) and Tiaan Falcon (knee) were all unavailable for the Blues game with Ah Kuoi likely to return for the clash against the Crusaders this weekend.
The race for top spot in #SuperRugbyAotearoa has got a lot closer after this weekends action 👀 pic.twitter.com/zAlZMsupXp
— Ultimate Rugby (@ultimaterugby) July 26, 2020