cyRil
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Blues 11-16 Chiefs
Mis-firing hosts dominated in Auckland
Written by cyRil
The Chiefs claimed the spoils at Eden Park and extended the Blues’ losing streak to three matches with a resolute performance in New Zealand’s North Island on Saturday night.
With this win the men from Waikato avenge their home defeat at the hands of the Blues in Hamilton earlier this term, and put the Aucklanders’ chances of reaching the SupeRugby play-offs in jeopardy with only two rounds of the regular season to play. The Chiefs own play-off chances were killed off weeks ago as they sit 10th in the overall standings, but the victory â€" only their 6th of the campaign â€" will be of great relief and encouragement to squad and management alike.
Despite an unconvincing performance, Stephen Donald contributed an important 11 points from the boot
It was the Blues, however, that got off to the better start on the night, when Luke McAlister â€" switched to fly-half for the game by coach Pat Lam in favour of Stephen Brett â€" slotted the first penalty of the night, after Chiefs half-back Brendon Leonard was pinged for throwing the ball away after an initial free-kick was awarded.
The lead was doubled moments later when McAlister was on target with a monster 55m kick that boosted himself and his team and sent out a warning to the visitors that they could not afford to infringe, even within opposition territory â€" 6-0 Blues after 10 minutes.
Despite trailing on the scoreboard the Chiefs were trying hard on the pitch and were controlling the majority of the ball, playing the game in the right areas within Blues territory, but missing the edge in the attack to properly worry the home side’s defence.
When All Black pivot Stephen Donald missed an easy penalty from right in front and then two minutes later was equally as inaccurate from 40m out, there were suggestions that the Chiefs would, not for the first time this season, fail to fully capitalise on being the dominant force in a game; with a faltering fly-half failing to influence with wayward passes, misplaced positional kicks and coughing up opportunities at goal that he would usually expect to convert.
The kicking bug was seemingly contagious on the Eden Park turf as McAlister was off-target with his next shot at goal â€" although the makeshift first-five-eighth could be forgiven with the distance of the kick measuring at 64 metres.
The Chiefs were continuing to counter from deep, preferring to retain possession rather than kick to touch and provide a platform for the opposition; and good running from the Japan-bound Mils Muliaina, Lelia Masaga and even front-rower Ben May was helping to make substantial inroads into the Blues defence â€" with the only negative aspect being Donald’s lack of composure and rash play that hindered any real progress for the away team upfield.
Nevertheless they continued to press and kept applying pressure â€" with two scrums in succession won against the head â€" and statistics that read 64% possession, 84% territory in the Chiefs’ favour with a quarter of the game gone.
Minutes later, all of the pressure and controlling of the ball finally came to fruition.
A great break from Tana Umaga saw the New Zealand veteran flat-foot Blues centre Benson Stanley and round his opposite number with a run that rolled back the years. Play was spread right and after a couple of lung-bursting strides from Chiefs forwards, the visitors were camped on their hosts’ 5m line. Seeing space to exploit Leonard fired the ball away quickly back left and with passes finally sticking the Chiefs marauded ominously towards the whitewash, with Umaga collecting, selling the defence a quick dummy and crashing through three defenders to score in the corner.
With the most difficult kick thus far, Donald was successful and the Chiefs took a deserved lead â€" 7-6 after 26 minutes.
Umaga's performance showed he still has something to offer at this level
There was no let up following the re-start, with Ian Foster’s side carrying with purpose, causing the Blues plenty of headaches in defence, and a continuing to dominate a scrum that was winning penalty after penalty for the visiting XV.
The Blues were being undone by their own set-piece with lost line-outs and turned over scrums proving their downfall in the first period. Added to this McAlister’s profligate goal-kicking which saw him woefully miss a further two shots at the sticks on the stroke of half-time, and the pressure and ire of the home support was definitely beginning to grow on the backs of their players.
The Chiefs began the second period very strongly, and despite losing the storming Umaga to injury early on extended their lead with Donald’s first penalty of the night;10-6 Chiefs.
Just when a vice-like grip was needed for the away team to maintain their hold on the game to take the Blues to the sword, the hosts scored a try of their own through arguably the player of the season â€" Jared Payne.
At a scrum the Chiefs were penalised for an early engage and the home side, urged on by some boisterous fans, took no time in capitalising on the position â€" with a quick tap and go, they moved the ball swiftly left, and similar to Umaga in the first half, Payne sold the defence a neat dummy before diving over in the corner to regain the lead for the Blues.
McAlister’s horrendous attempt at a conversion was about as close to the posts as the corner flag, and so with 35 minutes to play the Blues clung to a solitary point advantage; 11-10.
No way through - McAlister found it hard going at 10 on Saturday
The following ten minutes were comparatively quiet with one side desperate to regain the lead and the other just as determined not to relinquish it â€" although Blues scrum-half Alby Mathewson’s questionable kicking was giving the opposition a foundation with which to attack their line; and one that would have resulted in a try had Richard Kahui made a simple offload to Masaga outside him rather than going into contact.
With the game heading into crunch-time the Chiefs yet again exerted their authority up front by winning another penalty at the scrum. Donald had no problems with the resultant kick, in-so-doing putting his side back in front with a narrow 13-11 lead.
Head coach Lam threw caution to the wind with 15 minutes left, dragging McAlister off for the more natural number 10 Brett, after the former’s fifth place-kick miss of the night.
But the change brought little reward as hard hitting kept the Blues backs at bay, and Brett’s influence with ball in hand could not be felt as he was either stopped at source or backline moves were simply ushered into touch; and with 3 minutes left on the clock, Donald nailed a further penalty â€" much to the stand-off’s relief and joy â€" and the Chiefs held a seemingly unassailable 16-11 lead.
Chiefs players at full-time celebrating a deserved win
And so it proved to be, with the closing stages seen out with little trouble, the ball being won back thanks to the umpteenth big tackle of the night from impressive Number 8, Fritz Lee; and then run into touch by a delighted Donald to close the game out.
For the Chiefs, a thoroughly deserved end-of-season win against Kiwi rivals that will give them hope and optimism going forward as a team; for the Blues, another defeat and with the prospect of the Crusaders looming ever larger next weekend the squad will need to pull strongly together to stop the ship from sinking.
Star Man: Fritz Lee (Chiefs) â€" Big carries, huge hits and some great turnovers epitomised the uncompromising back row.
5-metre flop: Luke McAlister (Blues) â€" Could never really get his backline going and 5 missed kicks ultimately cost his side.
Mis-firing hosts dominated in Auckland
Written by cyRil
The Chiefs claimed the spoils at Eden Park and extended the Blues’ losing streak to three matches with a resolute performance in New Zealand’s North Island on Saturday night.
With this win the men from Waikato avenge their home defeat at the hands of the Blues in Hamilton earlier this term, and put the Aucklanders’ chances of reaching the SupeRugby play-offs in jeopardy with only two rounds of the regular season to play. The Chiefs own play-off chances were killed off weeks ago as they sit 10th in the overall standings, but the victory â€" only their 6th of the campaign â€" will be of great relief and encouragement to squad and management alike.
Despite an unconvincing performance, Stephen Donald contributed an important 11 points from the boot
It was the Blues, however, that got off to the better start on the night, when Luke McAlister â€" switched to fly-half for the game by coach Pat Lam in favour of Stephen Brett â€" slotted the first penalty of the night, after Chiefs half-back Brendon Leonard was pinged for throwing the ball away after an initial free-kick was awarded.
The lead was doubled moments later when McAlister was on target with a monster 55m kick that boosted himself and his team and sent out a warning to the visitors that they could not afford to infringe, even within opposition territory â€" 6-0 Blues after 10 minutes.
Despite trailing on the scoreboard the Chiefs were trying hard on the pitch and were controlling the majority of the ball, playing the game in the right areas within Blues territory, but missing the edge in the attack to properly worry the home side’s defence.
When All Black pivot Stephen Donald missed an easy penalty from right in front and then two minutes later was equally as inaccurate from 40m out, there were suggestions that the Chiefs would, not for the first time this season, fail to fully capitalise on being the dominant force in a game; with a faltering fly-half failing to influence with wayward passes, misplaced positional kicks and coughing up opportunities at goal that he would usually expect to convert.
The kicking bug was seemingly contagious on the Eden Park turf as McAlister was off-target with his next shot at goal â€" although the makeshift first-five-eighth could be forgiven with the distance of the kick measuring at 64 metres.
The Chiefs were continuing to counter from deep, preferring to retain possession rather than kick to touch and provide a platform for the opposition; and good running from the Japan-bound Mils Muliaina, Lelia Masaga and even front-rower Ben May was helping to make substantial inroads into the Blues defence â€" with the only negative aspect being Donald’s lack of composure and rash play that hindered any real progress for the away team upfield.
Nevertheless they continued to press and kept applying pressure â€" with two scrums in succession won against the head â€" and statistics that read 64% possession, 84% territory in the Chiefs’ favour with a quarter of the game gone.
Minutes later, all of the pressure and controlling of the ball finally came to fruition.
A great break from Tana Umaga saw the New Zealand veteran flat-foot Blues centre Benson Stanley and round his opposite number with a run that rolled back the years. Play was spread right and after a couple of lung-bursting strides from Chiefs forwards, the visitors were camped on their hosts’ 5m line. Seeing space to exploit Leonard fired the ball away quickly back left and with passes finally sticking the Chiefs marauded ominously towards the whitewash, with Umaga collecting, selling the defence a quick dummy and crashing through three defenders to score in the corner.
With the most difficult kick thus far, Donald was successful and the Chiefs took a deserved lead â€" 7-6 after 26 minutes.
Umaga's performance showed he still has something to offer at this level
There was no let up following the re-start, with Ian Foster’s side carrying with purpose, causing the Blues plenty of headaches in defence, and a continuing to dominate a scrum that was winning penalty after penalty for the visiting XV.
The Blues were being undone by their own set-piece with lost line-outs and turned over scrums proving their downfall in the first period. Added to this McAlister’s profligate goal-kicking which saw him woefully miss a further two shots at the sticks on the stroke of half-time, and the pressure and ire of the home support was definitely beginning to grow on the backs of their players.
The Chiefs began the second period very strongly, and despite losing the storming Umaga to injury early on extended their lead with Donald’s first penalty of the night;10-6 Chiefs.
Just when a vice-like grip was needed for the away team to maintain their hold on the game to take the Blues to the sword, the hosts scored a try of their own through arguably the player of the season â€" Jared Payne.
At a scrum the Chiefs were penalised for an early engage and the home side, urged on by some boisterous fans, took no time in capitalising on the position â€" with a quick tap and go, they moved the ball swiftly left, and similar to Umaga in the first half, Payne sold the defence a neat dummy before diving over in the corner to regain the lead for the Blues.
McAlister’s horrendous attempt at a conversion was about as close to the posts as the corner flag, and so with 35 minutes to play the Blues clung to a solitary point advantage; 11-10.
No way through - McAlister found it hard going at 10 on Saturday
The following ten minutes were comparatively quiet with one side desperate to regain the lead and the other just as determined not to relinquish it â€" although Blues scrum-half Alby Mathewson’s questionable kicking was giving the opposition a foundation with which to attack their line; and one that would have resulted in a try had Richard Kahui made a simple offload to Masaga outside him rather than going into contact.
With the game heading into crunch-time the Chiefs yet again exerted their authority up front by winning another penalty at the scrum. Donald had no problems with the resultant kick, in-so-doing putting his side back in front with a narrow 13-11 lead.
Head coach Lam threw caution to the wind with 15 minutes left, dragging McAlister off for the more natural number 10 Brett, after the former’s fifth place-kick miss of the night.
But the change brought little reward as hard hitting kept the Blues backs at bay, and Brett’s influence with ball in hand could not be felt as he was either stopped at source or backline moves were simply ushered into touch; and with 3 minutes left on the clock, Donald nailed a further penalty â€" much to the stand-off’s relief and joy â€" and the Chiefs held a seemingly unassailable 16-11 lead.
Chiefs players at full-time celebrating a deserved win
And so it proved to be, with the closing stages seen out with little trouble, the ball being won back thanks to the umpteenth big tackle of the night from impressive Number 8, Fritz Lee; and then run into touch by a delighted Donald to close the game out.
For the Chiefs, a thoroughly deserved end-of-season win against Kiwi rivals that will give them hope and optimism going forward as a team; for the Blues, another defeat and with the prospect of the Crusaders looming ever larger next weekend the squad will need to pull strongly together to stop the ship from sinking.
Star Man: Fritz Lee (Chiefs) â€" Big carries, huge hits and some great turnovers epitomised the uncompromising back row.
5-metre flop: Luke McAlister (Blues) â€" Could never really get his backline going and 5 missed kicks ultimately cost his side.
