McKenzie the Chiefs’ star act AT A GLANCE

The Chiefs regained the lead of the New Zealand conference after dispatching the spirited Sunwolves 43-17 yesterday but it was certainly the least impressive victory of coach Warren Gatland’s tenure.

The Chiefs had to battle hard for long periods to beat the perennial Super Rugby strugglers.

An animated home crowd in Tokyo were perhaps as thrilled as Chiefs fans watching Damian McKenzie in full flight, with the All Blacks playmaker a key figure as the visitors showed too much class and muscle in defence and around the breakdown.

McKenzie was back to his brilliant best, making pivotal plays in all four of his team’s firsthalf tries and defending heroically, too.

A smiling Solomon Alaimalo was so grateful to McKenzie, he handed his fullback a try despite already being across the line, but the relief later was palpable when Quinn Tupaea and Kaleb Trask’s first tries in Chiefs colours grabbed a bonus point in the final minutes.

(Solomon Alaimalo, Shaun Stevenson, Brad Weber, Damian McKenzie, Lachlan Boshier, Quinn Tupaea, Kaleb Trask tries; McKenzie 3 con, Trask con ) (Garth April, Jaba Bregvadze, Shogo Nakano tries; April con). 24-12.

The Sunwolves demonstrated they won’t disappear quietly into the night in their final Super Rugby campaign, but too many errors and some soft tackling ruled out another shock victory in an entertaining tussle.

This was a different challenge after second-half comeback wins over the Blues and Crusaders. Still, it was a third successive victory in a fine start to the season.

The Chiefs got a taste of their own medicine in the opening minutes as the Sunwolves held them up and won turnover ball for Garth April wrestled his way over the line.

The home crowd’s joy was short-lived as the Chiefs responded with two quick tries from both wings, Alaimalo and Shaun Stevenson, following razor-sharp passes from McKenzie.

The fullback then went from provider to saviour with a magnificent try-saving tackle on centre Keisuke Moriya.

The Chiefs cavalry arrived and stole the ball before Trask was hit high by prop Conrad van Vuuren, who was fortunate referee Angus Gardner saw his reckless grab of Trask’s neck as just a penalty.

It was then McKenzie’s first clean break which cut the hosts apart, leading to stand-in captain Brad Weber knocking opposing halfback Naoto Saito over to score after a sharp lineout.

For all their attacking endeavour, the Sunwolves were too weak, too often in defence and McKenzie cut through for the Chiefs’ fourth try, brushing off tacklers and finding Alaimalo out wide, who oddly handed the ball back to his fullback to touch down.

The home side managed to strike a blow before halftime, though, as the Chiefs lost Tyler Ardron to the sinbin and Georgian hooker Jaba Bregvadze crossed from an unstoppable rolling maul.

Chiefs 43

Sunwolves 17

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