VIDEO: Chiefs survive late Brumbies fightback
MATCH REPORT: Damian McKenzie orchestrated a 24-19 victory for the Chiefs over a hard-finishing Brumbies in Hamilton on Saturday, to keep their hopes of a Super Rugby home quarterfinal alive.
It kept the Chiefs in touch with the Hurricanes for the fourth slot and a home quarterfinal in the play-offs with the two New Zealand teams set to meet in the final round of the regular season next week.
The Brumbies, despite a storming second half in which they had the Chiefs rattled, left the field with a losing bonus point effectively ending their chance of making the play-offs.
“I’m proud of the boys, they stayed in there right to the end,” a relieved Chiefs skipper Charlie Ngatai said after the Brumbies had the better of the second half.
“We talked about starting strong. We did that, but we were a bit slow in the second.”
It wasn’t the same explosive start from the Chiefs that they produced a week ago against the Highlanders but they won the critical moments.
The Brumbies suffered from a forward pass, a lack of numbers at the breakdown and the Chiefs’ penchant for ripping the ball from the ball carrier which cost them at least three tries in the first half while the Chiefs had McKenzie in impeccable form.
The diminutive All Blacks flyhalf opened the scoring with a penalty and his ability to slip through the merest gap set up Nathan Harris for the Chiefs first try.
McKenzie finished the half by electing to run when the Chiefs won turnover ball on their own line and was on hand to finish off the end-to-end move with a try.
He landed both conversions for the Chiefs to lead 17-0 at half-time.
Brumbies captain Christian Lealiifano rued the ball retention.
“But I’m really proud the way we came back and nearly pinched it at the end.”
After a long build up of forward drives the Brumbies put their first points on the ball when it was moved wide for Henry Speight to score in the corner.
They were immediately on attack again, and within a few metres of the line when scrum-alf Joe Powell fired a long pass to an unmarked Speight only for McKenzie to pop up for the intercept.
He took play back to the other end to the field where Johnny Faauli scored with McKenzie again landing the conversion.
A late and high tackle saw replacement Chiefs flank Jesse Parete sent to the sin bin which allowed the Brumbies to strike with tries to Tom Banks and Speight, both converted by Wharenui Hawera to close within five points.
They were heading towards the tryline again, with time on the clock, when a controversial knock-on call allowed the Chiefs to put the ball in a scrum and then kick it out of play for full-time.
Man of the match: Liam Messam was a force around the park once again, while Luke Jacobson continued his fine form with a good work rate. However, the award goes to Chiefs flyhalf Damian McKenzie who was simply outstanding on attack. His skill level was out of this world again.
The scorers:
For Chiefs:
Tries: Harris, D McKenzie, Fa’auli
Con: D McKenzie 3
Pen: D McKenzie
For Brumbies:
Tries: Speight 2, Banks
Cons: Hawera 2
Yellow card: Jesse Parete (Chiefs, 65 – foul play, late and dangerous tackle)
Teams:
Chiefs: 15 Solomon Alaimalo, 14 Toni Pulu, 13 Sean Wainui, 12 Charlie Ngatai (co-captain), 11 Shaun Stevenson, 10 Damian McKenzie, 9 Brad Weber, 8 Liam Messam, 7 Sam Cane (co-captain), 6 Luke Jacobson, 5 Tyler Ardron, 4 Michael Allardice, 3 Angus Ta’avao, 2 Nathan Harris, 1 Karl Tu’inukuafe.
Replacements: 16 Samisoni Taukei’aho, 17 Sam Prattley, 18 Jeff Thwaites, 19 Jesse Parete, 20 Lachlan Boshier, 21 Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi, 22 Marty McKenzie, 23 Johnny Fa’auli.
Brumbies: 15 Tom Banks, 14 Henry Speight, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Kyle Godwin, 11 Andrew Muirhead, 10 Christian Lealiifano, 9 Joe Powell, 8 Isi Naisarani, 7 David Pocock, 6 Tom Cusack, 5 Blake Enever, 4 Rory Arnold, 3 Allan Alaalatoa, 2 Folau Fainga’a, 1 Nic Mayhew.
Replacements: 16 Connal Mcinerney, 17 Ben Alexander, 18 Leslie Leuluaialii-Makin, 19 Richie Arnold, 20 Lachlan Mccaffrey, 21 Matt Lucas, 22 Wharenui Hawera, 23 Lausii Taliauli
Referee: Rasta Rasivhenge (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Glen Jackson (New Zealand), Angus Mabey (New Zealand)
TMO: Shane McDermott (New Zealand)
AFP & @rugby365com
