Chiefs lose Mitchell Graham

The Chiefs will be without prop Mitchell Graham for at least the opening six rounds of the Super Rugby season.

Graham has needed an operation to remove screws out of the leg he broke at last year's Brisbane Tens when he suffered a fractured tibia and fibula.

The 27-year-old did return to action for Taranaki in last season's Mitre 10 Cup after going down in February, but Chiefs assistant coach Neil Barnes said the loosehead had been struggling with "quite a bit of pain" during preseason training.