Chiefs up against the history books
If the Chiefs beat the Crusaders in Christchurch on Saturday night, they will have done something that no team has since 1998.
By flying into New Zealand from South Africa, as they will on Tuesday morning, then winning a playoff match, they will have ended a 12-game losing streak for teams in such situations, that stretches back almost 20 years.
Travelling teams have struggled in the playoffs full stop, winning just 23 per cent of matches, but when they have to fly across the Indian Ocean, and then across the Tasman, that figure falls to 13 per cent.
Across the years, 18 teams have found themselves in those circumstances, with 16 losing and just two winning – in games where they were at home against opponents who had made the same trip.
First, in 1996, there were the Blues, who beat the Sharks in Durban in the final round of the regular season, then returned home to beat Northern Transvaal in the semifinals.
And then in 1998, there were the Crusaders, who beat the Sharks in Durban to end the round robin, then again in Christchurch in the semifinals.
Since then, 12 teams have faced the arduous journey – eight from South Africa, two from Australia, and two from New Zealand – and none have triumphed.
Going the other way, from New Zealand to South Africa, teams have won four times out of 11, a tally the Hurricanes will be trying to add to when they take on the Lions in Johannesburg in the early hours of Sunday morning (NZ time).
Two of those wins came this year and last, when good Chiefs teams were forced to travel to play average Stormers teams, thanks to the convoluted conference format.
The others came in 2011, when 2-16 (includes two games where both teams did) 4-7 the Crusaders beat the Stormers, during their impressive run to the final in that earthquake-affected season; and in 1999, when the Highlanders beat the Stormers to set up the party at Tony Brown’s place, which they then lost to the Crusaders.
The itinerary the Highlanders had then, from New Zealand to South Africa and back, is the hardest possible – at least until the Jaguares or the Sunwolves make the playoffs – and it’s one the Chiefs are familiar with, having done it last year, when they returned home victorious from Cape Town then lost meekly to the Hurricanes.
It’s the Crusaders who lie in wait this time, an imposing opponent who went 14-1 in the regular season, before shutting out the Highlanders in impressive fashion in the quarterfinals. They’ve been able to spend the past two weeks at home, and they will be all the better for it.
Until last year’s playoffs, the Chiefs under Dave Rennie were unbeaten on their returns from South Africa and Argentina during the regular season, largely because in those games, they weren’t facing the best of the best.
But the playoffs are a different beast.
The travel factor is also likely to come into play in the final, whoever makes it.
Should the Lions win their semifinal, the winner of the CrusadersChiefs match will be off to South Africa, either for the first time in a while, if it’s the Crusaders, or for the second time in two weeks, if it’s the Chiefs.
But on the flipside, if the Hurricanes win, they will have a long journey home as part of their buildup.