McKenzie magic keeps sees Chiefs tame Brumbies

WELLINGTON: Damian McKenzie orchestrated a 2419 victory for the Waikato Chiefs over a hard-finishing ACT Brumbies in Hamilton on Saturday, to keep their hopes of a Super Rugby home quarterfinal alive.

It kept the Chiefs in touch with the Wellington Hurricanes for the fourth slot and a home quarter-final in the play-offs with the two New Zealand clubs set to meet in the final round of the regular season next week.

The Brumbies, despite a storming second half in which they had the Chiefs rattled, left the field without a point and no longer with a chance of making the play-offs.

“I’m proud of the boys, they stayed in there right to the end,” a relieved Chiefs skipper Charlie Ngatai said after the Brumbies had the better of the second half.

“We talked about starting strong. We did that, but we were a bit slow in the second.”

It wasn’t the same explosive start from the Chiefs that they produced a week ago against the Otago Highlanders but they won the critical moments.

The Brumbies suffered from a forward pass, a lack of numbers at the breakdown and the Chiefs’ penchant for ripping the ball from the ball carrier which cost them at least three tries in the first half while the Chiefs had McKenzie in impeccable form.

The diminutive All Blacks fly-half opened the scoring with a penalty and his ability to slip through the merest gap set up Nathan Harris for the Chiefs first try. - AFP