Chiefs ‘embarrassed’ in review of ugly win
Complacency is not an option for Dave Rennie and the Chiefs.
A ‘‘rigorous review’’ took place following their ugly 27-14 win over the Rebels in round four, which ‘‘embarrassed’’ some players who head coach Rennie said didn’t work as hard as they should have.
The Bulls in Hamilton on Saturday night are what the Chiefs are preparing for this week, after a much-needed bye following three New Zealand derbies and their bonus point victory in Melbourne.
Rennie admitted that beating the Highlanders, the Blues and the Hurricanes prior to the Rebels had sapped their energy levels, but four wins from four and 19 points from a possible 20 proves there was just enough petrol in the tank.
That abject Rebels performance was a frank reminder for the Chiefs, though, to front up week in, week out ahead of three fixtures against South African teams, before facing the Force, the Sunwolves and the Reds.
‘‘There were some carefully chosen words. We just showed pictures [from the Rebels game] and when the guys looked at it, they were pretty embarrassed,’’ Rennie said yesterday.
‘‘There was a lot of things we said we were going to do that we didn’t do. We weren’t brutal, we didn’t win races into clean-out and because of that we turned over a lot of ball.
‘‘Defensively we fell off tackles and didn’t work as hard as we had been, so it was a pretty simple process. We covered what we said we were going to do and showed what we did, so we’ve got to be better.’’
The Bulls have lost three from four (to the Stormers, the Cheetahs and the Blues) and only beat the Sunwolves 34-21 in Pretoria in round four.
The three-time Super Rugby champions head to Hamilton having lost heavily, in the end, to the Blues 38-14 in Albany thanks to a late flurry of tries. But the Chiefs, minus their All Blacks, lost 28-7 to the Bulls in pre-season prior to the Brisbane Tens and Rennie said they’ll be better since touching down in New Zealand last week.
‘‘They dominated us physically in that game and put a lot of pressure on us with our line speed, and we just didn’t work hard enough off the ball,’’ Rennie said.
‘‘We missed a few opportunities and they’ll probably take a bit of confidence from that. They never front very well first game off the plane and we’re expecting them to be a hell of a lot better this week.’’
Toni Pulu remains doubtful for this weekend after suffering a minor hamstring injury against the Rebels, but Sam McNicol is close to returning to the fray to boost the Chiefs’ back line that has welcomed Black Ferns star Selica Winiata into training this week.
It’s unlikely Pulu will be risked before the Chiefs fly to Africa on Sunday, where they face the Stormers in Cape Town before the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein.
Liam Messam will win his 150th Chiefs cap if he plays against the Bulls and Michael Leitch returns after serving his one-week suspension for that Rebels match.
Inquiries from Melbourne weren’t pretty, but Rennie added: ‘‘The good thing about it was that it gave us a lot of edge in reviews and I’m pretty confident there won’t be any complacency going into this weekend.’’