New Zealand’s Waikato Chiefs guaranteed themselves a home semi-final in the Super 14 playoffs yesterday with a tense 10-7 win over Australia’s ACT Brumbies.
Capping a late-season charge that has taken them to the top of the table — with the rest of the final round still to be played over the weekend — the Chiefs ensured they will be back in Hamilton for their playoff clash.
“It was pretty tough out there,” captain Mils Muliaina said. “It wasn’t a spectacle, but we’re pretty excited — and this is what we wanted to achieve.”
PHOTO: REUTERS
Flyhalf Stephen Donald scored all the Chiefs’ points for the second straight week, with the win putting them top of the table on 45 points. Only the Northern Bulls can overtake them for first place.
The Bulls face a clash in Durban today against South African rivals the Coastal Sharks, who are also still in the picture for the final four.
The Brumbies’ bonus point was enough to put them into the top four, but they would need some improbable upsets over the rest of the weekend to remain there and end up in the playoffs.
“One point probably won’t be enough,” disappointed Brumbies captain Stephen Hoiles said. “It leaves us in the four, but we need a few unlikely results to go our way.”
An aggressive Brumbies defense and second-half rain helped ensure the Chiefs were unable to play their favored free-running style, but a Donald penalty was enough after the sides were locked at 7-7 with a try apiece at halftime.
The win was a fair reflection of the Chiefs’ domination of the second half, when they spent long periods camped in Brumbies territory.
With so much at stake, both teams started tentatively, kicking for territory but unable to build momentum because of handling errors and a stream of breakdown offenses.
The Chiefs were woeful at the line-outs and were outpointed in the scrums in the first spell, with both Donald and the Brumbies’ Stirling Mortlock succumbing to nerves in missing straightforward penalty attempts midway through the half.
Sloppy defense by the Chiefs saw the Brumbies get onto the scoreboard first with a try to winger Francis Fainifo after 33 minutes.
Brumbies fullback Adam Ashley pushed off a tackle from Dwayne Sweeney and put through a clever grubber kick to the Chiefs’ try-line, where casual defense by winger Lelia Masaga allowed Fainifo to slip through for the try.
But the Chiefs quickly made amends with one of their classic sweeping back-line tries, finished by Donald just three minutes later. Masaga was brought down just short of the Brumbies’ line and Donald received the ball from the breakdown to sneak over. He added two more points from the conversion.
Donald broke the deadlock with an easy penalty after 67 minutes, which also cost Brumbies replacement hooker Huia Edmonds a yellow card for a breakdown offense inside his own 22.
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