New prop reveals secret to Chiefs’ big scrum turnaround At a glance
Former Chief remains a Force
New Chiefs prop Sione Mafileo has lifted the lid on the secret to the team’s stunning scrummaging transformation, saying some of the players had been trying to do too much of their own thing rather than working as a pack.
In mirroring the side’s remarkable change in fortunes with now a place in next weekend’s Super Rugby Aotearoa final secure thanks to five wins on the bounce, it was the team’s last defeat where the scrum hit rock bottom.
That night in Christchurch, in the 39-17 round-three defeat to the Crusaders, proved the catalyst, coach Clayton McMillan has said, for sorting out a scrum he described as getting ‘‘destroyed’’ and was ‘‘embarrassing’’.
The fix was ultra quick, seemingly a switch flicked against the Hurricanes in Wellington the following weekend and the big men won a couple of crucial set-piece moments. Even more remarkable was to come the following weekend against the Blues in Hamilton, when a rather unheralded home bunch did a real number on the muchfancied visiting big boys.
And so it has continued on this winning streak, right down to the final moments of last weekend’s win over the Hurricanes, when the Chiefs won their ultimately matchwinning penalty.
The man who was at the centre of that penalty win – on the Chiefs’ tighthead side against Canes loosehead Pouri Rakete-Stones – was Mafileo, and he told Stuff this week just how they’d managed to pick up the pieces from that fateful night in the Garden City.
‘‘That week after, we just felt like we were better than that,’’ the 128kg, 28-year-old said, going on to praise the work of a scrum coach who is just four weeks post a second hip replacement.
What: Super Rugby Aotearoa, Blues v Chiefs
Where: Eden Park, Auckland When: Tonight, 7.05pm
Referee: Mike Fraser
TAB odds: Blues $1.25, Chiefs $3.70 Blues: Zarn Sullivan, Bryce Heem, Rieko Ioane, (cc), Tanielu Tele’a, Caleb Clarke, Otere Black, Finlay Christie, Hoskins Sotutu, Adrian Choat, Tom Robinson (cc), Sam Darry, Gerard Cowley-Tuioti, Nepo Laulala, Kurt Eklund, Karl Tu’inukuafe. Reserves: Soane Vikena, Ofa Tuungafasi, Marcel Renata, Josh Goodhue, Akira Ioane, Sam Nock, Harry Plummer, AJ Lam.
Chiefs: Kaleb Trask, Bailyn Sullivan, Sean Wainui (c), Rameka Poihipi, Shaun Stevenson, Bryn Gatland, Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi, Pita Gus Sowakula, Zane Kapeli, Viliami Taulani, Josh Lord, Samipeni Finau, Sione Mafileo, Bradley Slater, Ollie Norris. Reserves: Nathan Harris, Ezekiel Lindenmuth, Joe Apikotoa, Liam Messam, Tom Florence, Xavier Roe, Rivez Reihana, Gideon Wrampling. as individuals too much in those opening two games.
‘‘Maybe we weren’t engaged as much,’’ he said. ‘‘A couple of us were doing our own little thing. But I think it was more just gelling in, it was only our second game in, we just needed more game time with each other to have a feel what could be. More than anything, it’s just everybody’s buying into what we want to do, and what we want to achieve in the scrum.
‘‘Obviously it’s not just the guys at the front. We look good there, but the back five, they are the ones that we rely on to get us through.’’
While he and his team-mates sported bruised egos from ‘that’ night in Christchurch, Mafileo was also left with bone bruising on his back, which saw him require an injection and miss the next three games, returning by way of club footy for North Shore.
‘‘It’s always a niggly thing for front rowers, the lower back, but I’m happy I got it sorted real early and I’m feeling good now,’’ he said, following two 10-minute stints off the bench the past two weeks.
Now, tonight, Mafileo will get his first start since the season-opener against the Highlanders, when he gets to pack down against his former side, the Blues, at Eden Park.
After six seasons with the Auckland team, an opportunity presented itself for Mafileo to move south, in what was a virtual swap with All Black Nepo Laulala, and he signed a two-year deal at a Chiefs club where his younger brother, Tevita, had played as an injury replacement in 2019.
Having been sidelined when the teams met in Hamilton last month, it’s a clash Mafileo is licking his lips for, getting to pack down against great Harbour mate ‘‘big Karl’’ [Tu’inukuafe], who he rates as ‘‘one of the best scrummagers in the world’’.
‘‘He’s the enemy on Saturday.’’
In the two seasons since the Western Force returned to Super Rugby, much has been added to the team that was acrimoniously kicked out in 2017.
Into the Perth-based outfit has come Argentinian internationals, a 95-test Irish star, an Aussie sevens colt and a handful of bigname Wallabies.
They’ve even added the ritual of turning the team song after a win into a randomly selected love ballad, for an unusual – but virally popular – bonding exercise.
After 10 straight losses upon returning to the competition, dressing room cameras caught the Force celebrating a win against the Waratahs in round three by belting out Adele’s Someone Like You.
When they beat the Rebels, it was John Farnham’s You’re The Voice. And with wins over the Waratahs, and then the key victory against the Reds which secured their place in today’s preliminary final against the Brumbies, the Force belted out renditions of Robbie Williams and Aerosmith songs.
The team’s ongoing success has kept Marcel Brache – the squad member who picks the balladbusy, and has made for plenty of viral content, too.
But when factoring in the most influential additions to the Force in their resurgence, it’s hard to go past a World Cup-winning All Black with a pair of Super Rugby titles already on his CV.
Richard Kahui may be much closer to the end of his career than the start but the former All Blacks star has played an integral role in rebuilding the club’s on-field performance from the ground up.
The 35-year-old won two Super Rugby titles under Dave Rennie at the Chiefs. In many ways, this Force group reminds him of the rebuild that took place under Rennie’s watch.
‘‘At the Chiefs in 2012, there wasn’t any expectation on us. We grew from nothing,’’ Kahui told the Sydney Morning Herald. ‘‘We restarted, rebooted and went on a run. Two in a row.
‘‘At the Force, it would be very similar to the Chiefs. We’ve come from nowhere. Come from nothing and slowly built.
‘‘We have put people in place, plans in place and you can see the growth in the team. [To win Super Rugby AU] would mean a lot. It would be really special.’’
Kahui spent the last seven years playing for Japanese club Toshiba Brave Lupus but returned to Australia when the Covid-19 pandemic brought the Top League season to a halt.
When Force general manager of rugby Matt Hodgson and coach Tim Sampson started their pursuit of the 17-test All Black, Kahui had not picked up a ball or completed a gym session in more than three months.
‘‘I said to ‘Sambo’, I’m happy to come but it will take me a bit to look like a rugby player again,’’ Kahui said.
‘‘I just assumed I would come and bolster the squad but not play much. That was my feeling.’’
After one season back in Super Rugby, Kahui was hooked.
‘‘I was meant to return [to Japan] in October, 2020,’’ he said.
‘‘But I had that hunger for Super Rugby again. To come back this season, it’s been a really great experience.
‘‘I don’t love this team any more than any other team I’ve been part of but right now, I absolutely love it. I absolutely love being here, I love that we’re winning but also the way we’re winning.
‘‘We haven’t played particularly well in some of those games but we are gutsy enough and resilient enough to win. We talk about, as a team, being committed to each other and staying in the fight.
‘‘The growth of this team is so heartwarming. It’s what makes you get up in the morning. Being a part of something special.’’
If Kahui doesn’t call time on his decorated career at the end of this season, he will after the 2022 season.
It’s hard to imagine any achievement could top winning a World Cup on home soil but steering the Force to the most unlikely of championships wouldn’t be far away.
‘‘Every time you win, it’s special in its own way. The World Cup was so special. It was something we hadn’t done, as a country, for 24 years. It was at home. There was a massive amount of expectation there,’’ Kahui said.
‘‘But if we were able to win one here, especially so late in my career, it would be a really nice cherry on top of what’s been a pretty amazing ride.’’