{"id":463864,"date":"2026-06-06T11:04:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T11:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/463864\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T11:04:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T11:04:09","slug":"chiefs-beat-reds-for-super-rugby-pacific-home-semi-but-concerns-over-injured-wallace-sititi-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/463864\/","title":{"rendered":"Chiefs beat Reds for Super Rugby Pacific home semi, but concerns over injured Wallace Sititi"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4JNG0HT_260606ChiefsReds_025_jpg.webp\" width=\"1050\" height=\"700\" alt=\"Chiefs Wallace Sititi is injured during the Chiefs v Reds Super Rugby Pacific Qualifying Final match at FMG Stadium Waikato in Hamilton, New Zealand, on Saturday June 6th 2026.&#10;&#10;\u00a9 Photo: Blake Armstrong \/ Photosport\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"photo-captioned__information\">\nWallace Sititi is helped from the field during Chiefs v Reds.<br \/>\nPhoto: Blake Armstrong\/Photosport\n<\/p>\n<p>The Chiefs will have a home Super Rugby Pacific semifinal, but are likely to be without star No.8 Wallace Sititi, who suffered a head injury in their 46-24 win over Queensland Reds.<\/p>\n<p>In a freak occurrence, Sititi copped a double headknock midway through the first half and play was paused for a long period, while he was treated on the ground by medical staff. He was conscious when leaving the ground on a medicart, before being taken to hospital.<\/p>\n<p>Sititi had been hit high in a tackle by Reds loose forward Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, but almost instantly suffered a second headknock in a collision with one of his own teammates.<\/p>\n<p>He was clearly in distress on the ground and was groggy when he attempted to stand. There was a delay of about six minutes, while he was attended by medics.<\/p>\n<p>Salakaia-Loto was given a yellow card, but it wasn&#8217;t upgraded to red on review, with officials saying Sititi dipped into the tackle and the main damage was done by the collision with his teammate.<\/p>\n<p>Next Friday, the Chiefs will host a semifinal against the Crusaders, who saw off the Blues 52-31 earlier. Under the competition&#8217;s &#8216;lucky loser&#8217; concept, the Blues get another chance and will take on the in-form Hurricanes in Wellington, meaning the semifinalists are all New Zealand teams.<\/p>\n<p>The Reds put forward a spirited effort, contesting everything with vigour, before the Chiefs&#8217; class saw them take control midway through the second half.<\/p>\n<p>In a welcome return from injury, first-five Damian McKenzie scored two tries in a 26-point haul overall<\/p>\n<p>The semifinals:<\/p>\n<p>Friday, 12 June<\/p>\n<p>7.05pm, Chiefs v Crusaders, FMG Stadium Waikato, Hamilton<\/p>\n<p>Saturday, 13 June<\/p>\n<p>7.05pm Hurricanes v Blues &#8211; Hnry Stadium, Wellington<\/p>\n<p>See how the game unfolded here.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/radionz.us6.list-manage.com\/subscribe?u=211a938dcf3e634ba2427dde9&amp;id=b3d362e693\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sign up for Ng\u0101 Pitopito K\u014drero<\/a>, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wallace Sititi is helped from the field during Chiefs v Reds. Photo: Blake Armstrong\/Photosport The Chiefs will have&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":463775,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48,47,42,43,49,46,44,45,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-463864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-audio","tag-current-affairs","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-podcasts","tag-public-radio","tag-radio-new-zealand","tag-rnz","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=463864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463864\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=463864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=463864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=463864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}