Chiefs hit bye on high
Chiefs coach Colin Cooper feels his side’s second and final bye of the Super Rugby season has come at just the right time.
The team will go into their week off in good spirits after putting on a firsthalf clinic then nabbing a bonus point after the hooter in their 36-12 victory over the Reds in Brisbane on Saturday night.
Having hit the halfway mark of the regular season - eight games down of 16 - the Chiefs sit with a 6-2 record, right in among the action in the hotly-contested New Zealand conference.
With 26 points they currently occupy third spot, with the Crusaders leading the way on 29, while the Hurricanes (27) and Highlanders (24) sit either side, but have played one game less.
The top Kiwi qualifier still hosts a quarterfinal, though the change in format this year from four conferences to three means there are five wildcacrd spots, and they can come from any conference.
And with the quality of the New Zealand sides it looks as though three of them would be in line to take those wildcards, so a scrap then looms for second place in the conference too, as that team would also earn home advantage, in a 4 v 5 quarterfinal.
The importance of playing at home come the crunch games has been seen time and again, so it makes for another tight tussle across the second half of the competition, which is of course intersected by the June international window.
For the Chiefs, they’ve got five of their eight tough derby games out of the way, with two of their remaining three at home and one on neutral territory in Fiji.
Their other five games against nonKiwi opposition feature three at home, and a two-game trip to South Africa, of which the second game against the Sharks in Durban on May 21 looms as problematic because all their All Blacks are instead required to attend a national camp.
But they’ll be happy with how they have set themselves up, considering their vast changes in playing and coaching personnel, and the horrendous injury toll they have had to battle.
‘‘We’re heading in the right direction,’’ Cooper said.
‘‘It’s still really early, isn’t it. It’s a long competition. I think we’re pretty satisfied with what we’ve done, particularly with the injuries that we’ve had and the way the new players have really stepped up and taken on that opportunity.’’
‘‘[It’s a] great time for the bye, especially after playing three New Zealand teams in a row and then coming to Brisbane and beating the Reds, it’s been quite a tough few weeks.’’
Cooper said this week the players and staff would get right away from rugby and spend time with family, before they link back up together on Friday, ahead of their next match, against the Jaguares in Rotorua on May 4.
They will look forward to hopefully reintroducing a few props back into the fold, while there were two players to be monitored out of the Reds game, in first five-eighth Damian McKenzie and winger Sean Wainui.
All Blacks utility McKenzie copped friendly fire to the head from the knee of Angus Ta’avao and was forced from the field in the 20th minute, and because he was dazed he automatically failed the HIA assessment.
Cooper said his star playmaker labelled himself fine yesterday, but that he would have to go through the concussion protocols.
Wainui left the park at the hourmark with a shoulder problem, though there is a ready-made replacement if need be, with Toni Pulu scheduled back from his own shoulder injury.