I never expected the Chiefs to win this game. I expected two very evenly matched teams to play each other but where one has had a string of home games and the other has had away games and a return trip to south africa. and that was the difference in the end.
even as a chiefs supporter I'm glad the canes won because a trip back to south Africa again was on the cards and that would have been close to just handing the ***le to the lions.
I'm also Glad Perenara didn't get a ban though he deserved one.
I'm sorry Cookie, I don't know if you have fallen over before but landing like that does not make you quickly straighten your legs
its actually a very nu-natural reaction.
I don't necessarily believe Perenara intended to hit Cane square in the face with his boots like that but at the very least it was careless, from his reaction he probably intended to get him in the chest, hit his face by mistake and that explained his reaction. The speed of his reaction is proof he knew exactly what was going on and was in control of his feet and saw it happen, he saw exactly what he did. It was careless, dangerous and deserved sanction. he got very lucky, I like what I have seen from gibson-park recently in terms of his speed and impact but his passing hasn't been anywhere near as good as Perenara, they would have seriously missed him in the final.
Chiefs actually were a lot better than I thought they would be. Funny I thought the game actually played out much like finals loss to the highlanders last year. In that game the chiefs were generally the stronger team but Aaron Smith came up with a couple of pieces of individual brilliance for the highlanders to win. This time Bauden Barrett did the trick with a bit of help from Savea but you would have to say that generally the chiefs were the stronger side, they just generally failed to turn their advantage in general play into points.
Refereeing was an issue, at one stage the canes had given away 5 penalties basically all hard on defense with the chiefs threatening and they got away without conceding a card. And that was only the penalties called, in some cases there were multiple advantages called. Combined with the other penalties given away When Vito collapsed two mauls within a few minutes both of them obviously cynical that should have been a card. This clearly played into the Hurricanes hands.
the half time count was something like 7-1 (?)
funny after the chiefs prop injury issue early in the season hurricanes fans branded the chiefs cheats. they should probably keep quiet now
in hindsight the chiefs should have opted for goal every opportunity they got. But their was no way they could have predicted that the ref was just going to keep the cards in his pocket till it was basically too late and then at that point it would be Jane carded instead of one of the forwards which would have helped a lot more.
Chiefs Dominated many aspects of the game and created many opportunities but failed to finish any of them. That for me was a very obvious sign of the injury toll and tough travel schedule catching up with them.
Best example is James Lowe, for most of the season hes hardly put a foot wrong but the last 3 weeks hes struggled to do anything right. Clearly the string of tough games and the travel has taken its toll. Shame because he was surely in AB contention but has blown his chance to get the selectors attention and ink his name when needed. Even though Julian Savea is well and truly out of the picture in terms of form.
Anyway still Glad the Canes are in the final and that the Final is in NZ. With the way super rugby has played out this year it would have been an injustice for the final to be played anywhere else.
And I make not shame of the fact I really rate Barrett, I've always said that I thought Barrett has always tracked ahead of Cruden in his career when you consider that he's ~2 years younger yet they have always been very evenly matched. Barrett is clearly better right now and arguably the best 10 in the world. hes taken his game to another level this year. His Goal kicking needs to be a bit better but its not bad ~70% with most of his kicking happening in the cake tin isn't bad.
