Cane’s young Chiefs show fighting spirit
INJURY-HIT Chiefs survived raid after raid from a fast-finishing Blues to win 27-21 in Auckland.
Missing All Blacks Brodie Retallick, Charlie Ngatai, Kane Hames and Dominic Bird to injury, the Chiefs were down to the bare bones. But sheer grit and some poor Blues finishing allowed the Chiefs to limp over the line and extend their opponents’ losing streak in Kiwi Super derbies to two years.
Handed a late opportunity by the Chiefs’ failure to kick the ball out, the Blues skewered a last-gasp lineout to condemn themselves to defeat.
They remain winless on the bottom of the Kiwi conference, while the undermanned Chiefs will take huge confidence from their backs-to-the-wall win.
“One of the prouder days to be a Chief,” Sam Cane said. “Every team has their fair share of injuries but this week has been relentless. We had some young guys come out there today, some of them pulling on the jersey for the first time and they really stepped up.”
The victory took the Chiefs’ unbeaten run against the Blues to 13 matches, a record between two teams in the southern hemisphere competition.
Tana Umaga’s Blues side led 14-5 midway through the first half with the much changed Chiefs looking disjointed early in the match.
Blues capitalised when Pulu crossed for a converted try in the eighth minute. The Chiefs hit back with a Taleni Seu five-pointer but had to absorb sustained Blues pressure, which paid off when Akira Ioane brushed off Damien McKenzie’s tackle to score his third try of the season.
Defensive errors gifted the Chiefs a second try through Sean Wainui, narrowing the Blues’ lead to 14-10 at half-time.
The Chiefs then grabbed two tries in two minutes shortly after the restart. Captain Cane dotted down for the first from a line-out drive and Brad Weber scooted down the wing for the second.
Blues fly-half Bryn Gatland, son of Wales coach Warren, scored a converted try to make it 27-21 and the Aucklanders laid siege to the Chiefs line only for the final linout to be oinged for not straight.
Waratahs fly-half Bernard Foley kicked a conversion from the touchline four minutes from time to earn a 24-24 draw against the Sharks after replacement No.9 Mitch Short dotted down in the corner.
Both sides scored three tries, with centre Lukhanyo Am grabbing a brace for the Sharks and a single from fly-half Robert du Preez. The Waratahs other scores came via scrum-half Jake Gordon and flanker Michael Hooper. Defending champions
Crusaders raced into a 26-0 lead after 18 minutes and held on to defeat the Stormers 45-28 to continue their unbeaten start to the season.
Winger George Bridge, hooker Corey Taylor, flanker Billy Harmon and scrum-half Bryn Hall all touched down as the Crusaders made a spectacular start.
The Stormers rallied despite a second try from Bridge, to cut the lead to 3121 in the third quarter with tries from Johan Janse van Rensburg, Wilco Louw and JD Schickerling.
However, the Crusaders responded with tries from winger Seta Tamanivalu and fly-half Richie Mo’unga to retain their unbeaten record in 12 matches despite the effort of Stormers replacement prop Steven Kitshoff.
Winger Jack Maddocks scored a hat-trick as the
Melbourne Rebels beat Japan’s Sunwolves 37-17 to start the season with backto-back wins for the first time in their history.
The teams were locked 10-10 at half-time, but following their 45-19 win over the Queensland Reds last
weekend, the Rebels scored 27 second-half points to complete a convincing victory.
The Reds downed the Brumbies 18-10 to overcome a horror opening to the new season, with captain Scott Higginbotham and lock Lukhan Tui both suspended in the aftermath of last week’s ill-disciplined loss to the Rebels.
It was former All Blacks forward Brad Thorn’s first win as Reds coach as his young side ground their way to victory with all their points coming from penalty goals from James Tuttle and Jono Lance.
The Brumbies, last season’s Australian conference champions, scored tries through Joe Powell and Isi Naisarani.
The Lions beat the Bulls 49-35 after a second-half rout to keep up their undefeated record against South African opposition.
The Lions scored seven tries through Ruan Dreyer, Jaques Van Rooyen, Marvin Orie, Malcolm Marx, Sylvian Mahuza Mahuza, Ross Cronje and a penalty try, with the scoreline flattering the Bulls who scored twice at the death through Lizo Gqoboka, Travis Ismaiel following earlier scores by Johnny Kotze, Handre Pollard.