Sio keen for Chiefs to go out on a high

HAVING suffered heartache in his swansong appearance for the Brumbies, Scott Sio is determined that this summer’s Exeter leavers don’t suffer the same fate.

- JON NEWCOMBE

Sio’s 127th and final game for the Australian outfit was a 20-19 defeat to the Blues in the semi-final of Super Rugby Pacific back in June last year.

And for many of his current team-mates, this weekend’s Champions Cup semi-final clash with La Rochelle in Bordeaux will be their last opportunity to do something special in Chiefs colours.

“As there is with every club that is a transition period, I was in a similar position to them with the Brumbies last year when it was time to move on,” the prop said.

“So I can understand what these players must be feeling and I am hoping to send these guys out as winners, as are the young guys here who see them as their heroes.”

Sio, who won the last of his 74 caps for Australia shortly before his arrival in Devon in October, will have a big role to play if the Chiefs are to dethrone the defending European champions.

With the giant frame of his former Wallabies team-mate Will Skelton in the La Rochelle pack, the 31-year-old doesn’t shy away from the fact that the game will be won and lost upfront.