Chiefs told to get their heads in the game
The Chiefs will add more physicality to their warmups, but it’s in the players’ top two inches that the coaching staff believe lies the biggest issue to the team’s slow starts.
After a bye to lick their wounds from their first loss of the Super Rugby season – the surprise 26-14 defeat to the Brumbies in Hamilton – the Chiefs fly across the Tasman for their clash against the Waratahs in Wollongong on Friday night.
Apart from bouncing back to winning ways, it’s coming out of the gates in much tidier fashion that the team are determined to do, having made a habit of playing from behind this year.
The Chiefs have conceded the first try in all four of their games this season, leaking 82 first-half points while scoring just 37.
‘‘It’s something we needed to address because we haven’t started well in any of our games,’’ assistant coach Neil Barnes said yesterday.
‘‘We’ve had a little talk about it, about adding a little more physicality into our warmup, to see if that gets the boys going a bit quicker.
‘‘But what the answer is, I wouldn’t have a clue, it could be just in here [pointing at the head].’’
Asked if, in his experience in the game, slow starts tended to indeed be a psychological issue, Barnes said that was ‘‘normally’’ the case, and the revamped warmup would also look to get the minds working a bit more.
‘‘Sometimes just by having a drill where you’ve got a little bit more going on, it can trigger that to get cracking. But, to me, it’s your individual preparation, and that’s been addressed as well.’’
As sluggish as the Chiefs have been in early stages of their games, they are still taking plenty from the fact they have fought back in all their contests – recording important derby wins against the Blues and Crusaders, overpowering the Sunwolves, then going 12-0 against the Brumbies over the final 35 minutes of that one.
‘‘You’ve got to take a little bit of pride from that, because it shows the guys care,’’ Barnes said.
‘‘And you’ve got to take your hat off to our S and C [strength and conditioning] people – our guys are in bloody great nick, so we’re finishing up over top of teams. We’ve just got to work out how to get better at the start of it.’’
The Chiefs now have a six-week block of games before their second bye, and it features just two derby matches but four games away from home – including three of their next four being outside of New Zealand, with their trip to South Africa looming,
‘‘It’s been a long time between games when you’ve had a loss, so we’re itching to get back out on the paddock and put in a performance that we’re proud of,’’ Barnes said.
‘‘We still haven’t put out our A game yet. It is early, it takes a while to get into your groove. Right across the board we still aren’t on song, so we’re demanding more from each other’’
The Chiefs are set to be boosted by the return of Tumua Manu, who hasn’t yet played this season due to a shoulder injury.
Prop Nepo Laulala is back on the training paddock but is at least another week away, following his knee injury in round one.
Angus Ta’avao’s campaign is all but over, with a 12-week recovery time for surgery on his quadricep, while Luke Jacobson was not taking a full part in training as he faces more time on the sideline with his hamstring issue.
‘‘We’re finishing up over top of teams. We’ve just got to work out how to get better at the start of it.’’
Neil Barnes