Chiefs had the right attitude
The Chiefs had the right attitude as they booked their place in the Super Rugby Final for only the second time Friday.
They produced a huge defensive effort against the Crusaders, as the men from Hamilton hung on for a narrow 20-17 win in Hamilton.
In the end the Chiefs, purely based on their huge defensive effort, deserved the win and will now wait for Saturday's encounter between the Stormers and Sharks in Cape Town to see who they meet in the Final next week and where.
Coach Dave Rennie thought the Chiefs brought a different level of intensity that was probably missing in recent weeks while he praised his side's strong defensive effort.
"You could see from the first whistle there was far more intensity in everything we did," Rennie said.
"We got a lot of quick ball and put them under a bit of pressure.
"Certainly defensively, there were a lot of guys who made big contributions defensively today so it made a massive difference.
"It's all about attitude in the end."
Chiefs captain Craig Clarke said he was so pleased with the result he could hardly believe it.
"It's pretty unreal at the moment. We just have to look at the scoreboard and let it sink in a little bit," Clarke said.
"Their try just before halftime certainly made the game interesting."
He also felt that their intensity on defence was the key.
"We were determined to turn up and smash the guys," he said.
Asked about his team's much-improved performance in the set-pieces – following their defeat to the Crusaders three weeks ago – Clarke admitted it wasn't perfect.
"A couple of scrums went backwards and a couple of line-outs were overthrown so it certainly wasn't perfect, but it was good enough."
Loose forward Sam Cane acknowledged the side had addressed the attitude coming into the game that may have been missing the last time the teams met.
For Cane, he'll be hoping the Sharks prevail in Cape Town against the Stormers for another opportunity to play in front of the Chiefs fans.
"We'd like the Sharks to get up so we could have a home final here. The crowd has been amazing here and the boys really respond to it.
"So if we could have a home final that would be ideal…It would be awesome to have it here."
