Richard Kahui has impressed since his return from injury © Getty Images

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Matches: New South Wales Waratahs 25 - 20 Chiefs

The Chiefs have to rediscover patience for the Super Rugby match against New South Wales Waratahs in Sydney, All Blacks centre Richard Kahui says after the defending champions were guilty of forcing the pace as Queensland Reds outscored them four tries to two in a 31-23 victory at Waikato Stadium last weekend.

"We made 13-odd linebreaks and converted I think only one for a try," Kahui told NZ Newswire. "You just can't go through a game, have that many opportunities and not score. We'd make breaks then try to score straight off that break, or try and make a magical offload. We just weren't taking the time to go one more phase, or two more phases, and then go again. When you start making mistakes, and starting getting frustrated by them, you start trying to force things, and it just got worse and worse from there."

Kahui, working his way back to form after his latest shoulder injury kept him out of the game for 10 months, moves from centre to second five-eighth against the Waratahs in one of six changes to the Chiefs' starting line-up.

Waratahs coach Michael Cheika, working to embed an attacking style of play, has also tweaked his starting line up. He has recalled No.8 Wycliff Palu and hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau to his starting line-up, meaning the Waratahs will field a Test-strength pack against the Chiefs while imposing winger Cameron Crawford has also earned his first Super start.

The Waratahs have struggled with consistency, with three wins from seven starts, but Kahui says they still present a strong threat. "They're probably similar to us: they haven't put a game on the park yet. They've gone through games, won some and lost some, but not really had a good performance."

The Waratahs are coming off the bye, with a 41-29 loss to the Hurricanes in Wellington from their last start, but they've won three of their four matches in Sydney this season and Kahui notes history hasn't been kind to the Chiefs at Allianz Stadium. "We've never played particularly well against the Waratahs at home, so it's going to be a really big game for us after our display last week. We're kind of glad it's a short turnaround because we just want to get back out there and right the wrongs of last week."