Chiefs made to work by Force in scrappy win
The end of a three-week overseas trek seemingly took its toll on a lacklustre Chiefs side, who were made to work hard to get past the Force in their Super Rugby clash in Perth last night.
After two weeks in South Africa, the Western Australia stopover is never an easy one at the best of times, and the Chiefs had to keep their heads screwed on just to come away on the right side of the ledger.
With the Force in their first outing since Sanzaar’s announcement of the competition reduction from next year – which has them as one in the line of the hovering axe – the hosts were always going to be ready for more than their usual scrap, in front of the 14,089 faithful.
And with a Chiefs side willing to play their up-tempo style, but guilty of pushing too many passes and making some uncharacteristic tired errors, it all equated to a lousy affair. In the end, three second half penalty goals to Aaron Cruden was the difference, as the Chiefs were made to run the second 40 with Finlay Christie at halfback, with Tawera Kerr-Barlow not returning after halftime due to concussion.
Cruden was perhaps unlucky not to be awarded a try from a tap and go – deemed to have gone from off the mark – while Stephen Donald looked to be in late, but was picked up for a knock on.
Looking to rectify their recent slow starts, the Chiefs did just that. Their customary will to run from deep and keep the ball alive – they have popped the most offloads in the competition – saw Cruden at his scheming best, and the visitors were able to show points for their endeavour when Liam Messam drove over.
And it was a try perhaps more valuable than what was originally imagined, as the following 20 minutes turned into an error-fest – from both teams.
The Chiefs looked the far more inspiring with ball in hand, but just couldn’t hold onto the pill to wear down the defensive line of the hosts, who lost Wallabies fullback Dane Haylett-Petty to a leg injury, and were mostly guilty of going nowhere. That changed on the halfhour, when inspirational skipper Matt Hodgson crashed over, after the Chiefs made a hash of defending the lineout drive.
The Chiefs are now third in the New Zealand conference, level on points with the Hurricanes.