2014 Super Rugby: Chiefs vs Rebels (Round 9)

[nzlizard]

If you look at the table and the teams

the NZ conference has 8 points between the top and bottom team
the SA conference has 21 points
the Aus conference has 13 points

It shows you the level of competition in the NZ franchises and the consistency of the teams.

 

[austingtir]

The Brumbies side that got beaten by the Rebels? The Waratahs side that just lost to the Force and has the same win:loss record as the Highlanders/Crusaders? The Bulls side that has lost more matches than they have won? The Sharks side that have yet to leave South Africa? While I agree that none of the NZ sides have looked that good so far, none of the South African/Australian sides have really been any more consistent (apart from perhaps the Sharks, who as I mentioned haven't made there overseas tour yet). So while I do think the Chiefs and Crusaders have under-performed so far this season they are far from the only teams, and are still in a strong position to push for a top playoff seeding.

The Rebels both wins came against quality sides. And the Chiefs were lucky last night that the rebels dont have more experienced and composed players otherwise they would of gone down for sure.
The Brumbies for me are head and shoulders above any other team for their structure and employing sound tactics against different teams.
Same can be said about the Force not the same side as previous years both these sides are Banana peels waiting to happen for top sides. Only reason they beat the Highlanders and are causing alot of trouble in general is their backrow is class and putting loads of pressure on other teams.

 

[austingtir]

If you look at the table and the teams

the NZ conference has 8 points between the top and bottom team
the SA conference has 21 points
the Aus conference has 13 points

It shows you the level of competition in the NZ franchises and the consistency of the teams.

Exactly, thats why im saying for two NZ teams to get to the finals they need to get some breaks from the other NZ teams ATM thats not happening. In another 4 weeks it will be interesting to see if the Australian conference still has a red bar below three teams.

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

Exactly going on what they've shown so far in this comp they are seriously going to have pull something out of their ass to win this. Their deficiencies are pretty glaring this year. Honestly i think this years comp is the Brumbies/Waratahs or Sharks/Bulls to loose.

In saying that i think a NZ team can win it but I just cant see them getting home adv come the finals which this year will be really really important. The NZ conference is way to even to allow one team to get way ahead. I cant see the Chiefs beating the Saders or the Brumbies coming up. If they get one win out of those two they will have done well actually.

People seem to be forgetting that for a lot of last year the Chiefs were playing pretty poorly. In the middle of the season they lost to the Reds and Waratahs in quick succession (that game against the Tahs was one of the poorest I've seen from them) and then scraped by against the Sharks (after having a 24 point lead), Rebels (a bit of a misnomer, given how poor the ref was) and the Force before putting in a few good performances against the Hurricanes and the Crusaders. They only won four of their last ten matches by more than 7 points and flattered to deceive in most of those games. The important thing was that they kept picking up points and came right against the Crusaders in the semi final.

Currently the injury list includes Robinson, Tikoirotuma, Lowe, Ngatai, Fruean, Cruden, Elliot and Afeaki. That's a band of very good players, six of the eight played in the final last year. Imagine if you took Crotty, Carter, Dagg and Taylor out of the Crusaders backline, how well would they fare then?

I'm not suggesting this Chiefs team will win the competition, but providing they can keep accruing points and get a few players back from injury I'd be surprised not to see them come finals time. They have a habit of performing in crunch matches, hopefully they'll maintain that ability this season.

If they can win one of their two upcoming fixtures against the Crusaders and the Brumbies it will stand them in very good stead for the rest of the season. The Chiefs should be able to bank two wins out of the matches against the Lions and the Blues (both in Hamilton) and then have a bye, after which they should have most of their injured players back.

 

[Larksea]

Filipo was pathetic when he came on and almost cost the chiefs the game. I know Im not a fan of his, this cameo of his is why.

Chiefs still winning games and pickup up competition points despite not playing anywhere near their potential - a lot of which is due to injuries.

Anscombe was really good at 10 I thought. He played flatter than he usually does at 10. Hes got a huge amount of extra length in his kicks compared to Cruden, he also defended really well.

Chiefs just lacking cohesion which is expected as they make 8-10 changes each week. due to rotation and players coming and going with injury.

 

[Larksea]

yeah no one should write off the chiefs they are still top of the toughest most even conference and they are not playing anywhere near their potential. Only lost 1 game in 7 and they have done their trip to the Republic.

 

[Chikwa]

The rebels were the better side. The chiefs have issues with their defence.They are leaking way too many tries,Though Anscomb was good, Cruden has really grown into a good no 10.His creativity was missed

 

[nickdnz]

The rebels were the better side. The chiefs have issues with their defence.They are leaking way too many tries,Though Anscomb was good, Cruden has really grown into a good no 10.His creativity was missed

Then why did they lose?

 

[Chikwa]

Then why did they lose?

I couldn't bear to watch the last 5 minutes of the game when the rebels were 5-7 metres short of the try line. I would say they lost because of lack of composure .

 

[nzlizard]

Given the amount of injuries in the Chiefs and the changes to the team each week you would have to be pretty happy with their performance so far.

After round 8 the Chiefs were the most under performing side in terms of wins vs this time last year, yet we still lead the NZ conference, so their ability speaks for itself, while they are not looking flash they are doing the one key thing right - score more points than your opposition more often than not.

 

[nzlizard]

I couldn't bear to watch the last 5 minutes of the game when the rebels were 5-7 metres short of the try line. I would say they lost because of lack of composure .

So they weren't the better side because they don't have the ability to finish a game which the better sides do?

 

[InsaneAsylum]

Interesting match. disappointing as I thought the Rebels may have sniffed out their first win outside of Australia, unfortunately not to be. The slow start was annoying, they really gave the chiefs a head start. I think the Chiefs played the right game to scrape the win, they seemed to play much tighter than normal and tried to defend their leads rather than going all out which I don't think was a bad move considering the conditions. it looked like there was a bit of dew around (common for hamilton) as a few balls were slipping through hands towards the end.

I've always liked the look of hegarty and I think he's started growing into union after coming across from league. he has a good boot and is a good decision maker under pressure ie. managed to kick the ball into touch instead of throwing or knocking it. also see him starting to take on the line a bit more this season whereas he was simply shovelling to the next man last year. He made a good break at one stage. he's not the complete fly half but has potential.

 

[austingtir]

Given the amount of injuries in the Chiefs and the changes to the team each week you would have to be pretty happy with their performance so far.

After round 8 the Chiefs were the most under performing side in terms of wins vs this time last year, yet we still lead the NZ conference, so their ability speaks for itself, while they are not looking flash they are doing the one key thing right - score more points than your opposition more often than not.

Yeah but every team in the comp knows that the Chiefs weak point is the forward pack and they will try to expose that. For me if Retallick gets a injury and is out for any length of time this team is going to really struggle especially against the likes of the Saders or Brumbies coming up.

This team is just missing something for me this year. Im certainly not saying they wont make the finals but with the other NZ sides going pretty well I think its going to make life difficult for the top one or two NZ teams.

 

[Darwin]

Filipo was pathetic when he came on and almost cost the chiefs the game. I know Im not a fan of his, this cameo of his is why.

Chiefs still winning games and pickup up competition points despite not playing anywhere near their potential - a lot of which is due to injuries.

Anscombe was really good at 10 I thought. He played flatter than he usually does at 10. Hes got a huge amount of extra length in his kicks compared to Cruden, he also defended really well.

Chiefs just lacking cohesion which is expected as they make 8-10 changes each week. due to rotation and players coming and going with injury.

I can't recall exactly how deep Anscombe used to stand at 10, but it must have been even deeper than I remember if he was playing flatter this match He does get extra length on his kicks in general play, but he almost invariably kicks in straight down the throat of and opposition player. His kick-offs weren't any better - was there a single kick-off that the Chiefs chasers could contest? It is probably far too soon to make a fair judgement of him at 10, but to me he looks to have the same issues at 10 he had 2 years ago (apart from the fact his tackling looks to have improved). It certainly wasn't a poor display by any means, but I struggle to see the Chiefs backline functioning to its potential with Anscombe at 10...

I agree Filipo was poor - I would be surprised if he gets another chance unless there are a few more injuries. ...

 

[nzlizard]

Yeah but every team in the comp knows that the Chiefs weak point is the forward pack and they will try to expose that. For me if Retallick gets a injury and is out for any length of time this team is going to really struggle especially against the likes of the Saders or Brumbies coming up.

This team is just missing something for me this year. Im certainly not saying they wont make the finals but with the other NZ sides going pretty well I think its going to make life difficult for the top one or two NZ teams.

I agree completely if Retallick is out, he had a head knock and we are waiting to see, however if we had less injuries the impact may not be so critical, we will struggle against the Crusaders and Brumbies even if he plays.

The thing that kinda grinds me is everyone's focus is on the Chiefs being out of form and how bad they are playing, yet they lead the NZ comp and 3rd highest overall, so it shows an out of form Chiefs is still better than 90% of the best. That part gets overlooked a lot.

 

[ABs2011]

I agree completely if Retallick is out, he had a head knock and we are waiting to see, however if we had less injuries the impact may not be so critical, we will struggle against the Crusaders and Brumbies even if he plays.

The thing that kinda grinds me is everyone's focus is on the Chiefs being out of form and how bad they are playing, yet they lead the NZ comp and 3rd highest overall, so it shows an out of form Chiefs is still better than 90% of the best. That part gets overlooked a lot.

Just shows how good they are I reckon! People wouldnt have such high expectations of them if they werent any good huh!

I think they are doing bloody well considering their injuries. If they can stay there or there abouts until Cruden gets back I think they have a fair shot of defending their ***le. I dont think they are playing their best by any means but when you think about the other teams in the comp who else really stands out? I think only the Crusaders from the NZ comp, the Sharks from SA and to be honest Im just not sure about the OZs. Clearly on form the Force are impressive, but I doubt they have it in them to play out the season at that level. NSW were looking sharp early but have fallen off the pace without Folau. ACT are a solid team and should challenge and for me thats about it. Point is, even the way the Chiefs are playing now, you'd still have to rank them top 3 or 4 to win the comp, right?

 

[tenpm]

I thought the biggest issue Anscombe had in this match was that he wasn't involved in attack - I was watching closely to see how he went, but over half of the time, the first-receiver wasn't Anscombe (and often he didn't touch the ball at all). The Chiefs often uses other players than the No. 10 to be the first receiver, but it seemed like they were afraid Anscombe would screw up if they used him too much.

 

[Darwin]

I thought the biggest issue Anscombe had in this match was that he wasn't involved in attack - I was watching closely to see how he went, but over half of the time, the first-receiver wasn't Anscombe (and often he didn't touch the ball at all). The Chiefs often uses other players than the No. 10 to be the first receiver, but it seemed like they were afraid Anscombe would screw up if they used him too much.

Yep, they didn't seem that keen to use him at first receiver (and when they did he was usually too deep IMO). Aki seemed the preferred option at first receiver which was a bit of a surprise to me - if they wanted someone other than Anscombe at first receiver I would have used Horrell (who has a lot of experience at 10, and could bring some creativity to the backline..).

 

[Gena_ZA]

I noticed this as well but rather think they know they are now very thin at half back so used other players + considering he has not played there is a while.
He can be and I am sure will be a force on attack and he might just be backup to Barrett come the June Internationals

 

[ABs2011]

Yep, they didn't seem that keen to use him at first receiver (and when they did he was usually too deep IMO). Aki seemed the preferred option at first receiver which was a bit of a surprise to me - if they wanted someone other than Anscombe at first receiver I would have used Horrell (who has a lot of experience at 10, and could bring some creativity to the backline..).

They will slowly bring him into the game more and more. Early days I'd say, and I suspect they were just trying to take a bit of pressure off him. This week will be a real test of both Anscombe and the Chiefs.