4 points but what a cost.
Ben May injured
hika Elliot also limped off the park with his arm over the trainers sholder
Donald out for 4 weeks with a back injury after what looked like a direct Knee to the back from a shark at the breakdown following Donalds clean line break
The good:
- Chiefs Loose forward Trio were very strong, Messam in particular and also Waldrum, latimer also lifted his game this week.
- Leonard was very good again, kicking has been very good and his defence & threat with the ball is good too. Moa Does not seem to be able to maintain the same level when he comes on so I'd like to see Barlow back on the bench.
- Mike delany made a couple of very good kicks, conditions were good for kicking but the length of the kicks was impressive. Then he really rubbed it in kicking that one on full time!
- Defence was very good and the main factor in the result IMO. At one stage the sharks had missed about 10 tackles and the chiefs hadn't missed any, that's all about the loosies and Tana & Kahui. Masanga with his try saver, he almost did a celebration dance to go with it!
- Kahui's return lived up to expectations, some nice runs with nice passes on the end of them. Almost setup a try if not for a desperate shark hand as he was trying to offload. Some big tackles & turnovers. But it's his ability to pass and put players into space that's lightyears ahead of Sweany. Looks a little light/not full fittness but still very impressive for his first top level game in 6 months.
Bad:
- injuries are getting to critical levels, having 3 of your top 4 props out injured is a very bad situation for the chiefs. I dont know how far away Toby Smith or ben afeaki are but Ben May's injury looked bad enough to assume he will be out for 3+ weeks. having those three guys out is going to take it's toll on results. Nathan White has already had a huge workload this year because of these injuries and that's going to be a factor as well.
- no Trys? It may hust be saying a lot for the sharks defence but the chiefs will be wondering why they didn't cross. Sharks do seem to have a very good system on defence when a team gets into their red zone. I also think the chiefs would have missed Donald on attack in this sort of game, he's been very good at organising the attack in similar tight games in wet conditions where Delainy may be better in more open games & counter attacking. But still the chiefs will be wondering how they didn't score a try sporting almost a full all black backline.
Overall, they really needed the points but they also really needed to come through a game injury free!
