Chiefs demolish Sunwolves on the road
THE Chiefs had to work hard for their first two Super Rugby wins of the season, but their latest was a walk in the park.
It was always expected they would be too strong for the Sunwolves in Tokyo, and they duly cantered to a 61-10 bonuspoint victory at Prince Chichibu Stadium yesterday.
The Sunwolves have shown themselves to be a more competitive unit this season, and would have taken confidence from only losing to the Lions by two points in Johannesburg last weekend. But it was back to earth for them here, as the Chiefs roared out to a 28-0 lead by the quarter mark and didn’t look back. Damian McKenzie – back into the No 10 jersey – and wing Solomon Alaimalo both bagged doubles, as the visitors ran in nine tries and showed themselves to be far too fast and skilled for the home side.
The Chiefs had won the hard way in their two previous outings, fighting back against the Blues and Bulls, and coach Colin Cooper was pleased they were able to make all the running. ‘‘We really needed to come over here and play well,’’ he said. ‘‘So our preparation was everything. We couldn’t really come over here disrespecting the Sunwolves – they’re a good team, they pushed the Lions really hard in South Africa, so it was probably good for us to see that. The leaders drove the week and we worked really well together to produce a game like that.
‘‘Some of the turnover tries, they were outstanding, and we were pretty ruthless when we got in their 22, and a couple of lineout drives were finished off. So there were a number of things [I liked], some individuals that I was really pleased about that had been working really well during the week.’’
The Sunwolves did manage to keep the Chiefs scoreless in the second quarter, then scored either side of halftime, making it 28-10.
But even with Cooper replacing captain Sam Cane, Brodie Retallick and Anton LienertBrown, the visitors put the foot back down.
‘‘We let them come back and they scored two quick tries and all of a sudden it wasn’t a real gap. But that closed quickly. I think that was good, I think the guys rallied together, led really well by Damian again.’’