Backing up will be vital for Chiefs

Having done all the hard work to get points on the board in a desperate situation pre-bye, the Chiefs now must be switched on to keep their Super Rugby campaign on track.

An injury-ravaged team produced a gutsy win over the Blues at Eden Park a fortnight ago, but that will quickly count for little if the Chiefs don’t back it up against the Bulls in Hamilton tonight.

With two New Zealand derbies on the road to start the season now out of the way, this next two-game stint should be an accumulating period, even for a team still with a bulging casualty ward.

The Sunwolves in Tokyo come next weekend, before three successive derbies, so starting with the Bulls it looms as an imperative time to bank points where they are expected to be taken. Any slip ups here could be costly later on.

Coach Colin Cooper was rightly proud of the 27-21 effort against the Blues, which saw major reshuffles after two match-day withdrawals, but says there now can’t be any letup at FMG Stadium Waikato.

‘‘We have to back it up,‘‘ he said. ‘‘It’s our first home game, there’s a lot of support here, we want to represent the Chiefs really well for the fans.’’

While grinding out that result would have done wonders for team confidence, Cooper is adamant there needs to be better decision making from his troops, being more calculated with their option taking, and just knowing the game they are

wanting to play. So this week has seen a lot of inwards focus, particularly around their attack.

‘‘We didn’t play smart,’’ he said. ‘‘There were times where we could have put the foot on the throat with the Blues, and in the end we were lucky to win, when you look back on it.’’

The Chiefs are wary that the Bulls, under former Chiefs and All Blacks coach John Mitchell, have evolved from their often one-dimensional ways of the past.

‘‘Mitch has been coaching them to play a bit more rugby rather than just their driving

game,’’ assistant coach Neil Barnes noted.

‘‘We’ve got a lot of respect for what they’re bringing to the table this year, it’s not the Bulls of the old that just like to do the set-piece stuff, these guys want to play as well. So it could be a very entertaining game for the spectators.’’

The Bulls, themselves, will have motivation aplenty to get their season back on track.

This week they are boosted by the return of captain Burger Odendaal, after the second fiveeighth missed the past two games with a rib injury.