Defining 80 minutes for Chiefs
aaron.goile@stuff.co.nz
This one is seemingly it for the Chiefs.
Win in Cape Town against the Stormers on Sunday morning (NZ time) and they perhaps keep their Super Rugby title credentials intact; lose, and they will be staring down the barrel of a three-game losing skid which will have them fall well off the pace in the Kiwi conference.
After being upset, out-passioned and out-smarted in the 23-19 slump to the Jaguares in Rotorua last Friday, the Chiefs now somehow have to rediscover winning ways in what shapes as a defining 80 minutes for them at DHL Newlands, on a difficult two-game South Africa soujourn.
Next weekend’s match against the Sharks in Durban almost looms as a write-off, considering the team’s All Blacks will all be forced to fly home and attend a national camp instead.
Already without co-captain Sam Cane (abdominal strain) and fellow flanker Lachlan Boshier (appendicitis) for the tour after they were late scratchings last weekend, and still with All Blacks props Kane Hames (concussion) and Nepo Laulala (broken arm) sidelined, the Chiefs will then be further debilitated by the loss of Nathan Harris, Brodie Retallick, Damian McKenzie and Anton Lienert-Brown, against a Sharks team which just last weekend pumped the Highlanders 38-12.
On return from Africa, before the June international window comes home games against the Waratahs and Crusaders, but McKenzie and Lienert-Brown will still be having to sit out one more match each on their All Blacks stand-down requirements. Then when the competition resumes it’s two local derbies in their final three games, with the Highlanders in Suva and the Brumbies and Hurricanes in Hamilton to round out the regular season.
So, in all, with the Chiefs sitting fourth in the NZ conference, it’s really now or never.
They are just one point back from the Highlanders but are nine behind the Hurricanes and 11 off the Crusaders, the latter of which has played an extra game.
At this rate they would still be comfortable playoff qualifiers, but as has been shown year on year, if you don’t win the conference you may as well kiss goodbye the chance of lifting the trophy, such is the resulting demanding travel schedule in the finals.
While the local derbies are the key ones to win, as at the same time you’re mustering points it also staves off your conference comrades, it’s the fixtures against foreign foe which have generally been bankers.
However, with the Jaguares and the South Africans lifting their games this year, it’s been far from the case in 2018.
The Chiefs will have their work cut out against a Stormers side, who, while only holding a 5-6 record for the year, have won all their home games, and are coming off a decent 29-17 victory over the Bulls.
The last time the Stormers did lose at Newlands was indeed against the Chiefs, though, in last year’s quarterfinal.
But for the visitors to make it a fourth successful trip in their past five visits to the Cape they will have to produce a much more inspired effort from last weekend, where they looked flat coming off the bye and the Jaguares shut down their time and space. And anything like the discipline which saw them concede two yellow cards and a penalty try can’t be displayed again.
Particularly in the absence of Cane, Retallick will carry a huge onus on return to the starting lineup, while in his first start in six weeks halfback Brad Weber should be eager, as he and Lienert-Brown both mark their 50th Super Rugby games. What: Super Rugby, Rd 13 Stormers v Chiefs DHL Newlands, Cape Town Sunday, 1.05am (NZ time) Stormers: SP Marais, Dillyn Leyds, JJ Engelbrecht, Damian de Allende, Raymond Rhule, Damian Willemse, Dewaldt Duvenage, Sikhumbuzo Notshe, Kobus van Dyk, Siya Kolisi (c), Pieter-Steph du Toit, Chris van Zyl, Wilco Louw, Ramone Samuels, Steven Kitshoff. Reserves: Scarra Ntubeni, JC Janse van Rensburg, Frans Malherbe, Cobus Wiese, Nizaam Carr, Paul de Wet, Jean-Luc du Plessis, Seabelo Senatla.
Chiefs: Charlie Ngatai (c), Toni Pulu, Anton Lienert-Brown, Johnny Fa’auli, Solomon Alaimalo, Damian McKenzie, Brad Weber, Tyler Ardron, Liam Messam, Luke Jacobson, Michael Allardice, Brodie Retallick, Angus Ta’avao, Nathan Harris, Karl Tu’inukuafe. Reserves: Liam 0Polwart, Sam Prattley, Jeff Thwaites, Jesse Parete, Pita Gus Sowakula, Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi, Marty McKenzie, Shaun Stevenson.