Bye at perfect time for Chiefs
With the Chiefs having passed their massive test of character with flying colours, a multitude of players with banged-up bodies can now rejoice in their early-season bye.
The 27-21 Super Rugby win over the Blues at Eden Park on Friday night will go down as one of the franchise’s best in recent times. Not for the margin of victory, not for the quality of play, but more for just the sheer guts and determination to get an important job done in the face of adversity.
Staring down the barrel of potentially being 0-2 from two Kiwi derbies in a hotly contested New Zealand conference, the new-look Chiefs were also at crisis point on the injury front.
With 15 players already injured, to then have Brodie Retallick (poke in the eye at training) and Shaun Stevenson (leg injury in the warmup) withdraw late, gave the team every excuse to not take the points in Auckland.
Yet the by-then underdogs produced a performance that will fill their supporters with hope in a rebuilding year, and gave the entire squad that intangible dollop of belief that coaches can’t just manufacture out of nowhere.
At 14-5 down early, the visitors could have folded. But like they showed in their season-opening defeat against the Crusaders they had the spirit to come back and take the lead. This time, with 22 unanswered points, they weren’t going to relinquish it.
‘‘The guys would’ve thrown their body in front of anything in that last few minutes we saw there, so gutsy effort,’’ co-captain Sam Cane said of a result which rubs the Blues’ noses in a 13-match unbeaten streak against their local rivals – a new competition record between any two teams.
Cane praised the way veteran Liam Messam and playmaker Damian McKenzie stepped up in both their leadership and energy of play, and then said it was just about instilling confidence in those players coming in – most notably debutant Tiaan Falcon at first five-eighth.
‘‘For those young fellas to come out there and find out what it’s all about in a pretty intense arena – Eden Park against the Blues is always very tough – [I’m] really stoked for them,’’ Cane said.
‘‘I think this competition’s a lot about the depth of your squad. Everyone has their fair share of injuries, and I’m just really proud of the way that guys have stepped up.
‘‘It’s awesome, because they’ve done a lot of work pre-season, for them to be able to come in and step up at this early stage of the season it bodes well for the rest of the year.’’
The squad’s injury concerns didn’t even finish pre-match, with prop Nepo Laulala forced off with a suspected broken arm. And after the brutal nature of the contest, there are sure to be some sore men eyeing up this early bye, with several others set to work their way back into contention for the match against the Bulls in Hamilton on March 16.
‘‘Geez, at the start of the season when I saw we had a bye round three I thought ‘oh that’s unfortunate in terms of timing’ but to be honest it’s pretty good timing, just where our squad’s at in this moment,’’ Cane said, noting that had they gone into the break after two losses it would have left them a mountain to climb.
‘‘We know to do well in this competition you’ve got to, more or less, be top of the Kiwi conference to give yourself a really good crack, minimum top two. We really needed this win.’’