Back to basics for Chiefs
Chiefs coach Colin Cooper says there’s been ‘‘finger pointing and soul searching’’, along with a return to absolute basics, as his side looks to climb out of its Super Rugby slump.
While the only way is up for the struggling franchise, that hardly looks like coming immediately, because if you could have asked for the toughest possible fixture to be next on the agenda, then there’s just that on Saturday evening, in Christchurch against the two-time defending champions Crusaders, who are on a competition-record 18-game winning run.
The Chiefs are at 0-3 to start the year – the first time that’s happened since 2009 – but moreover it’s the nature of the defeats which has carried the most sting. First up they failed to close out their home game against the Highlanders, then in Canberra eight tries were leaked in a 54-17 hammering at the hands of the Brumbies, before the clincher last weekend – going down 30-15 on home turf to the lowly Sunwolves.
‘‘So there’s been a bit of finger pointing, and soul searching,’’ Cooper said.
‘‘We’re in a hole, basically. We’re 0-3, and we don’t like it, it’s uncomfortable, it’s disappointing. So we’ve got to look at how we can get out of that. The players have taken on that responsibility along with the coaches.’’
Asked if it was possible to be able to get responses from players in just one week, Cooper said he had experiences from the past to draw on that he believed made it possible.
‘‘Yeah, I’ve been here a few times,’’ he said. ‘‘So it’s just about staying calm and staying with them and keeping them together and making sure we don’t have little splinters going on. People will poke at you and say ‘you’re not doing this and this well’, it’s just brushing that aside and really staying strong together.
‘‘Sam Cane, even though he’s not playing, he’s having a big influence on helping our mindset, and [it’s about] making sure together him and I and Brodie [Retallick] are keeping the group tight.’’
After seeing similar problems surface two weeks in a row – notably turnovers, with a whopping 24 conceded against the Sunwolves – Cooper said it was time to go back to coaching some basics, while also conscious not to ‘‘clip the wings’’ of players going about ‘‘the Chiefs way’’ of attacking footy.
‘‘You can’t blame the defence when you can’t keep the ball,’’ he said of a team that leads the competition for tries conceded, with 14. ‘‘We spent a lot of time defending because we kept turning the ball over.
‘‘We know we can’t do that against the Crusaders, so we’ve just got to treasure the ball. We’ve just stripped it back, how to carry, the height of the carry, the inside support, the outside support, making sure we’re there.
‘‘If you keep thinking about strikes and maps you forget about the basics of how you keep the ball.’’
Asked if the poor performances would render personnel changes for this weekend, Cooper said selection was ‘‘all on performance’’ and ‘‘you’ll have to wait and see’’ come team naming daytomorrow.
In any case, the stocks are going to be boosted for the Chiefs to be able to field their strongest team of the year. Along with the return of rested All Blacks trio Nathan Harris, Nepo Laulala and Anton Lienert-Brown, backs Solomon Alaimalo (wrist), Jack Debreczeni (abdominals) and Marty McKenzie (hip) are now over injuries and available for game time, while loose forward Tyler Ardron (concussion) and midfielder Tumua Manu (groin) have also recovered after missing last weekend.