Wild Prediction

The Chiefs are going to be close but no cigar once again. They will continue to play at pace, generate width and score an insane number of tries. They have the defensive bite, too, to be extremely difficult to beat and with a pack of bruisers they can tighten up when they need to. But they look to be missing an element of magic in their back three and their lack of kicking options in their backline could hurt them. Essentially they are not going to be quite the same side without the CrudenMcKenzie play-making combination and will miss James Lowe more than they would like. Expect them to surge into the semis and then come unstuck once again.