Liam Messam has to be cleared by SANZAAR to be eligible for the Chiefs in the Super Rugby playoffs.

The Chiefs are awaiting a decision by SANZAAR to declare Liam Messam eligible for the Super Rugby playoffs.

Messam currently doesn't meet the criteria to be considered for finals matches, having rejoined the franchise late in the piece after missing selection in the New Zealand Olympic sevens team.

The Chiefs last week applied to the competition's governing body for dispensation and are hopeful of receiving a decision in the next couple of days, with the quarterfinals looming next weekend.

If players aren't in a franchise's original squad, to be considered for the playoffs they must be eligible to play for the country of that team, and in the country, before April 1, but also have been in the match-day 23 on four occasions. The April date is in place to deter teams bringing players in from overseas straight after European club competitions, for instance. However, the four-match requirement is somewhat harsher.

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The Chiefs have suffered a raft of season-ending injuries, so have brought in replacement players at various stages throughout the campaign, all signed off through official processes with New Zealand Rugby.

Messam is one of four players the Chiefs have applied to SANZAAR for, though the others - loose forward Mitchell Brown, outside back Monty Ioane and lock Jacob Skeen - are unlikely to feature in the plans too much.

With the sevens squad announced on July 3, Messam was straight back into training with the Chiefs, with his Toshiba club relaxing their stance that he was only allowed to play sevens during the Japanese off-season. The 32-year-old, who is the most capped Chief in history, came off the bench in the win over the Reds last Friday night, slotting back into the fray seamlessly in 40 minutes at blindside. He is set to again take the park in Saturday's final-round match against the Highlanders in Dunedin.

Chiefs chief executive Andrew Flexman said the squad's replacement players would be needed to ensure the fielding of a competitive team, and labelled Messam's case "an interesting one".

"The sevens selectors and coaching group want him to be staying physically active and playing," he said. "So the feeling from New Zealand's [Rugby] perspective, and indeed ours, is that Super Rugby provides a channel in which he can actually do that, in the event that he may be required late in the piece for a call-up to Rio."

Flexman was confident the decision would go in the Chiefs' favour, and that Messam would indeed be taking the park in the playoffs.

"In our view we've made a really solid and thorough submission to SANZAAR, so certainly hoping that they'll view our application favourably," he said.

"It would be, I think, fairly harsh to say on the basis of the timing of when they were required that you should be deprived of access to a replacement player that you're wanting to call on at the business end of a competition."

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