Chiefs duo make most of their opportunities
Lesser lights at start of the season; now in limelight. Evan Pegden reports.
Andrew Horrell and Asaeli Tikoirotuma never dreamed at the start of the Super Rugby season they would be regular starters scoring tries in a competition-leading Chiefs team three-quarters of the way through the season.
Hawke’s Bay’s Horrell – a transplanted Cantabrian – was selected in the squad as a backup first and second five-eighth, but has been a fixture in the starting lineup as a fullback for the past six matches since coming off the bench for the first six.
Tikoirotuma, a Fijian winger who started his New Zealand playing career in Whanganui and ended up last season as the Manawatu centre, has been getting plenty of game time on the left wing for the Chiefs since Tim Nanai-williams has been plagued by a groin injury.
Between them they scored two of the Chiefs’ three tries in their 28-22 victory over the Bulls at Waikato Stadium on Friday night, which has left them at the top of the overall and New Zealand Conference tables with four matches to play.
Horrell left the field late in the match after taking a blow to his calf but was hopeful it was a haematoma rather than a strain and that it would not keep him out of the team for Saturday night’s match against the Blues in Auckland. He admitted his confidence had bloomed with his regular starts at fullback and was heavily involved in the Chiefs’ attacks last Friday night.
‘‘That’s what Smithy [assistant coach Wayne Smith] has been telling me and Rens [coach Dave Rennie] too – to get myself involved as much as I can,’’ Horrell said.
‘‘I tried to do that last week and it was really good, and OK tonight [Friday] as well, but there’s plenty I can work on.’’
Horrell said it was a difficult game for the backs to inject themselves on attack, the Bulls pinning them back with their kicking game and strong phase play defence.
‘‘They used their bombs quite a bit off nine and 10 and we didn’t really catch many of those and put ourselves under pressure, so we’ll have to address that.’’
But Horrell revelled in what space he was able to find, running from fullback.
‘‘Obviously when we got ball in hand Sonny [Bill Williams] and Azza [Aaron Cruden] really attracted a lot of defenders, so it does sometimes make it easier playing out wider when you’ve got those kinds of threats in the middle.’’
While the Chiefs pulled off a couple of slick set-piece moves to create tries, the going was a bit tougher against the Bulls’ defence off phase play.
‘‘It’s kind of hard sometimes with the dewy ball out there and sometimes it doesn’t get too far out wide so you’ve got to make sure you’ve got a good workrate and get yourself involved as much as possible. They defended pretty well, especially off the ruck. We looked for our forwards to get us go forward and they defended pretty well around there and didn’t give us a lot of chances out wide, but once we got them we took them.’’
Horrell’s try came from a good chase, Tikoirotuma putting the pressure on Bulls fullback Zane Kirchner with a sharp chase of Cruden’s kick, the ball spilling in his tackle and Horrell there to take advantage.
The victory against the Bulls had been a big confidence boost, Horrell said. He is hopeful the Chiefs can continue to put opposition teams under pressure and score slick set-piece tries such as the one Tikoirotuma mastered.
That move was a Manawatu special drawn up by Rennie, and the flying wing (Tikoirotuma) was excited to have been the one to finish it off in his first match against the much vaunted Bulls side.
‘‘We’ve been trying that move for 10 weeks now and it finally happened today and against this team. I thought they were going to D up well on that, but they didn’t so I was pretty happy with that. It was a team try.
‘‘First of all I was just hoping not to drop the ball because of the greasy conditions out there, but once I got the ball I thought this just has to be a try.’’
Tikoirotuma feels his performance is getting better each game he plays, although he was not happy with some of his defence on Friday night.