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Reality check for Chiefs

A 18-23 loss to the Reds has well and truly brought the Chiefs back down to earth after their dream start to the Super 14.

Saturday, 06 March 2010

Sportal.co.nz

A 18-23 loss to the Reds has well and truly brought the Chiefs back down to earth after their dream start to the Super 14.

After two wins in South Africa before a comprehensive win in Perth, the Chiefs were major favourites moving into the clash but were shown up by an enthusiastic and hungrier Reds outfit.

The Reds, who thrashed the Crusaders two weeks before, came back from being three points down to edge a gritty victory through their aggressive runs around the rucks.

In previous games the Chiefs showed that the rucks are one of the strong points of their game. However, coach Ian Foster felt it was an area that was clearly dominated by the Reds.

"You've got to give the Reds some credit, they made us make a lot of tackles around the fringes and that clearly took its toll as the game went on," he said.

"I thought our defence in that last 10 minutes was going to allow us to have a chance of winning the game, and it actually did but we weren't clinical enough to take it.

"It was very good Reds performance against a side that perhaps lacked a bit of energy and couldn't quite take its opportunities."

Three tries to wingers Sitiveni Sivivatu, Lelia Masaga and Sona Taumalolo had the Chiefs up by 15 points at the 20 minute mark. But a lack of aggression, poor tackling and some infringing in the rucks allowed the Reds a ticket to get back in the game.

"We clearly started well, perhaps it came a little too easily for us," said Foster.

"Careless errors meant they were able to keep in touch. They controlled the second half through one-off running and through a bit of energy. Perhaps our energy levels were down a fraction."

Chiefs fullback Mils Muliaina, in his first game back this year after taking time off after his hectic All Blacks season, did not quite get the come-back result he was looking for.

The inspirational captain also felt his side let itself down through average defence and an inability to utilise scoring opportunities.

"We didn't have a lot of ball but our one-off tackling was pretty disappointing," he said.

"We fell off some pretty crucial tackles and then by the time we got the ball we couldn't utilise it like we wanted to. We needed to dominate the tackle and we just couldn't do that. It's obviously an area we need to work on because teams will start to target us there."

The Chiefs next host the Crusaders at home while the Reds head back to Australia where they will take on the Force.

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