Clinical Chiefs thrash Brumbies in Melbourne
So much for the match of the round.
Touted as being the most competitive of the fixtures during Super Round in Melbourne, the Chiefs made an absolute mockery of their supposed tough clash with the Brumbies yesterday afternoon.
Coming less than 24 hours after the Waratahs had stunned the Crusaders, Clayton McMillan’s men did not allow the Aussies to dine out on their trans-Tasman success for long at all, thanks to a sublime 46-12 demolition job at AAMI Park, which outlined just how hard the Hamilton-based outfit will be to stop as they go about avenging their home-final defeat of 2023.
In fact, the difference between last year’s two finalists couldn’t have been more stark. While the Crusaders were clearly clunky in a rejigged new-era lineup, the Chiefs’ cohesion was off the charts.
It made for absolutely lethal scenes against a Brumbies side tipped as the best of the bunch from across the ditch, and who ran them close in the semifinals last year and were coming off a 30-3 road win over the Rebels in round one.
But this was the Chiefs, on a dry afternoon, where they put on a simply sublime first-half of attacking footy.
Damian McKenzie, showing no ill-effects of the rib smashing that forced him off in the competition opener, had an absolute field day in marshalling his troops, as they enjoyed an absolute monopoly of possession and territory.
He had wonderful allies in the likes of Xavier Roe − who for a second successive week was superb in the post Brad Weberera − and Etene Nanai-Seturo, and each of them was duly rewarded with a five-pointer as the Chiefs took a commanding 25-7 lead to halftime.
Shaun Stevenson was also of course right in the thick of the slick, which was helped no end by some bruising carries and defensive hits from those you would expect to lead the way − All Blacks Tupou Vaa’i, Samipeni Finau and Luke Jacobson.
While Corey Toole produced a remarkable chip-and-chase try to immediately respond to Roe’s 11th minute opener, and then a great finish on the hour-mark to open the second-half scoring, his double dose of magic was far from enough for the Canberrans.
Up against the Chiefs’ big desire to play at pace, a key moment came when referee James Doleman boldly enforced the five-second rule at ruck time against Brumbies halfback Ryan Lonergan.
They were duly punished from the ensuing scrum, with another well-oiled Chiefs attack having Nanai-Seturo across from his left wing and in in the opposite corner, then a dozen minutes later the speedster was in the action again, playing provider for McKenzie, who had pounced on an overthrown lineout.
While there was a half-hour scoring pause for the victors, they turned it on again in the final quarter, as Josh Ioane coasted over then Cortez Ratima nabbed a half-dozen-minute double, the latter on the back of a brilliant burst from Manaaki Selby-Rickit off an awful Andy Muirhead kick.
The scary thing is there could have been much more. George Dyer could have opened the scoring but dropped the ball as he hit the line, Roe didn’t pass inside to Stevenson on a break and was then collected by Noah Lolesio, and Stevenson had a clear run to the line but lost the pill. And with three minutes left, prop Jared Proffit was then yellow-carded for head-on-head on contact with Cadeyrn Neville, with it quickly upgraded to red on off-field review.
It meant coach Clayton McMillan cut a frustrated figure in the box at times, and will leave him with some easy reminders for his side to guard against any complacency in what is very much another hot start to their season.