The Chiefs were very lucky to escape with the win - the last try was a bit questionable too. Regardless, they got the 4 points and will be reasonably happy going into the bye. The Highlanders, in contrast, will be very disappointed. They had the game by the scruff of the neck at halftime, and were at one point ahead by 9 points. That being said, if at the start of the season the Highlanders could've picked to go into the bye with 6 points I'm sure they would have taken it.
For the Chiefs I thought Symons was very good in his starting debut, making a number of tackles. I'd be looking at partnering him with Retallick and having Fitzgerald coming off the bench. Latimer looked fired up too, and a bit bigger than he normally does. It's going to be another great year seeing Latimer and Cane fighting for that starting jersey. Squire made a big impact when he came on, and I think he showed enough promise to start him at the back of the scrum in the next match to see how handles it.
The backs were all good without being great. Nanai-Williams provided a lot of spark, and I thought Ngatai had one of his best games to date. Kerr-Barlow was probably my MOTM, he looked very sharp both in terms of his passing and running (though I'm ignoring that last kick of his near the end
).
Wheeler was good for the Highlanders, and Hardie was probably the pick of the forwards on display. He was aggressive on defence and made a number of important turnovers. Manu made a few uncharacteristic errors. In the backs Fekitoa looked dangerous once more, and I though Stanley had a reasonably good game (apart from that one mis-kick). Ben Smith looked dangerous, but didn't get many opportunities.
