Very good game from the Chiefs, apart from a few decision making errors it was a solid all round performance.
For all the talk about how poor and uninspired the Crusaders' attack has been, they're still the top try scorers in the competition (yes there's been a blow out or two, but they've still been consistently dominant in the forwards). For the Chiefs to not let them over the whitewash even once is a pretty good showing - especially when you consider how much defending they did.
I thought Graham had a strong match for the Chiefs. He may not be as physically strong as a guy like Tameifuna he's a million times more intelligent. Elliot continues to do the core jobs very well, I'd like to see him doing a bit more on defence though.
Retallick and Cane looked very good, Retallick is already getting back to his best. Cane is the form 7 in NZ at the moment, I'm not sure if McCaw should be starting the test matches ahead of him, but we'll have to wait and see. The only weakness in Cane's game is he tends to lose the ball in contact more than he should.
Weber is clearly the better option to start at halfback. Pulu is a good impact player but he doesn't have the temperament for close matches. I'd seriously consider Weber as a bolter for the All Blacks - for me it's a straight shoot out between him and Ellis (and Ellis has been very lacklustre so far this season, apart from one or two games). Contrary to what I said earlier, it doesn't sound like TKB will be ready for the World Cup, sadly. It will be interesting to see what happens next year for the Chiefs, I don't know if TKB, Weber and Pulu all want to fighting it out for two spots week after week.
Hopefully Cruden's injury isn't too serious. Horrell did ok as a fill in last night (more so on defence than attack) but obviously McKenzie would be starting at 10 if Cruden is out for any period of time. The SBW/Ngatai combo was fairly quiet (apart from that one bust), but it was good to see the combination again. TNW, Lowe and Marshall all had good games. I know @
TRF_nickdnz isn't a fan of Marshall, but he hasn't done much wrong for the Chiefs in his time in Hamilton. I think I'd certainly be sticking with this trio next week, though having TNW on the bench as an impact sub with Heem starting at 14 is a good option too.
The Crusaders were outplayed across the park, really. Taufua looks dangerous on attack but he does almost nothing on defence. That being said I was surprised they subbed him - as opposed to McCaw, because McCaw looked pretty average last night. I'm not really sure what the Crusaders need to do to turn their season around. I'm sticking with what I said in the predictions thread, they aren't going to make the top six, but they'll be very close still. I'm certainly very happy that the Chiefs have both them and the Blues out of the way, because both of those sides could do some damage to the Hurricanes ***le hopes (who still have to play the Crusaders and Chiefs twice and the Highlanders and Hurricanes once).
On another note, how is that the Crusaders have ended up having to play both the Brumbies and the Waratahs in Australia?? That's ridiculously unfair.
