chiefs beat the hurricanes in final preseason match,,,

Chiefs win the battle of Mangatainoka

The Chiefs have beaten the Hurricanes 25-21 in the preseason game in Mangatainoka. The defending Investec Super Rugby champions out scored the Hurricanes four tries to three in a mistake-ridden but entertaining match.

Though the Chiefs had the better of the match and led throughout it took a late penalty from fullback Gareth Anscombe to make the game safe.

The Hurricanes made a late bid to keep their unbeaten preseason record in tact with tries to flankers Ardie Savea and Faifili Levave in the final quarter in front of 5000 fans.

The Chiefs led 10-0 at the break after tries to halfback Tawera Kerr-Barlow and wing Asaeli Tikoirotuma.

The Hurricanes were intent on running the ball from everywhere with captain Conrad Smith leading the charge.

However their accuracy left a little to be desired with handling errors and turnovers ending a number of promising moves.

Clean breaks from prop Jeffery Toomaga-Allen and wing Matt Proctor were squandered.

The Chiefs were less adventurous but more successful despite flanker Nick Crosswell being sinbinned.

Kerr-Barlow scored from a quick tap after 15 minutes and Tikoirotuma scooted in off a pass from hooker Hika Elliot on half an hour.

Proctor and Toomaga-Allen both left the field with what appeared to be head knocks.

After the break the Chiefs were in again when second five-eighth Bundee Aki slipped through the Hurricanes backine to make it 17-0.

Wing Julian Savea gave the locals something to cheer about when Lee-Lo bumped off Aki to provide the final pass.

Then centre Tim Nanai-Williams scored after a nice behind the back pass gave him space to make it 22-7 with 25 minutes to play.

Then the Hurricanes came to life with a wave of substitutes helping the cause.

The spark was flanker Ardie Savea who tore into his first tackle and seemed to turn the momentum.

He scored himself by muscling through lock Ross Filipo and when Faifili Levave smashed his way 10 metres to the line it was 22-21 with 10 to play.

It may have been a pre season math but the Chiefs weren't about to lose at the death and Anscombe knocked over a penalty to provide a buffer that remained til full time.

hurricanes played a near full strength team for this match, the only thing that would have made it full strength was if vito was at 8 amd levave was at 6.

im not surprised to hear about the number of errors from my boys, cos i subscribe to the its only a preseason game theory, but i do hope they worked it out of their system. cos its time for the real deal now.

oh man im hoping that ardie savea starts in the hurricnaes first game, its a big ask, but with jack lam injured and karl lowe losing a lot of his rugby prowess the last year or so, future All Black ardie savea could be a exactly what the hurricanes orederd.


 

Sasue

Was the Chiefs team a full-strength team - or did they use it to try out some youngsters/new players? 

Errors by teams are going to cst them dearly - so I hope it is cut down to the minimum - when the real competition starts on Friday.

What worries me a lot was the standard of refereeing in Round one - don't know whether you agree - but the two refs used was totally out of depth - and I think the players found  them difficult to read as well. For instance - in at keast two cases the refs blew up playes for knock ons - but the balls clearly went backwards and not forwards. In their referreing I believe that they showed  inconsistencie.

I hope poor refereeing does not influence outcomes of games though.   

Still like the Hurricanes team ahead of the other NZ teams - hope they get their act togther this year.  

 The Chiefs are not traditionaly one of New Zealands strongest sides.  They will most likely slip back to their more usual mid table status (?) over the next few years. Only a horrendous travel schedule denied the Sharks a Super 15 win last year.

@mikey,

here are teams who ran out in that clash,,,

Chiefs
1. Pauliasi Manu , 2. Hika Elliot , 3. Ben Afeaki , 4. Craig Clarke (c) , 5. Mike Fitzgerald , 6. Nick Crosswell , 7. Tanerau Latimer , 8. Fritz Lee , 9. Tawera Kerr-Barlow , 10. Aaron Cruden , 11. Asaeli Tikoirotuma , 12. Bundee Aki , 13. Tim Nanai-Williams , 14. Lelia Masaga , 15. Gareth Anscombe
Replacements: Mahonri Schwalger, Toby Smith, Romana Graham, Sam Cane, Augustine Pulu, Maritino Nemani, Ross Filipo, Rhys Marshall, Brodie Retallick, Liam Messam, Patrick Osborne and Ben Tameifuna

Hurricanes
1 Ben Franks, 2 Dane Coles, 3 Jeffery Toomaga-Allen, 4 Jeremy Thrush, 5 Jason Eaton, 6 Victor Vito, 7 Karl Lowe, 8 Brad Shields, 9 TJ Perenara, 10 Beauden Barrett, 11 Julian Savea, 12 Reynold LeeLo, 13 Conrad Smith (c), 14 Matt Proctor, 15 Andre Taylor
Replacements : 16 Ash Dixon, 17 Ben May, 18 Reggie Goodes, 19 James Broadhurst, 20 Mark Reddish, 21 Blade Thomson, 22 Ardie Savea, 23 Faifili Levave, 24 Mike Coman, 25 Chris Smylie, 26 James Marshall, 27 Tim Bateman, 28 Ope Peleseuma, 29 Richard Buckman


it wasnt a full strength team from both teams, but the hurricane swere pretty close to naming one that ran on.
vito at 8 and f levave at 6, plus tim bateman at 12 with alapti leiua on the right wing would be IMO the hurricanes full strength team.
curious that leiua wasnt named at all, hope hes not injured, hes was a star during the ITM.

as for the chiefs, m schawlager, l messam, b retallick and b taumafuina from their starting line up, all of them are first 15 players for the chiefs, but afeaki and taumafuina are neck and neck for the tighthead position. i heard that afeaki can play loosehead though, so hopefully rennie plays a frontrow which boasts 1 b afeaki, 2 m schwalger, 3 b taumafuina, cos that would be mean.
the chiefs were also missing andrew horrel who was a real star for the chiefs last year
as well as missing players, the chiefs were playing a few players out of position, they had tim nani williams at 13 and anscombe at 15. while anscombe is familiar with playing fullback, he wa a complete failure there in the past.

Chiefs did one thing last year which showed a face of solidarity, the whole head shaving thing. I liked that touch.

@storminged aka beeno1,

sharks can thank SARU for that horrendus travelling schedule, it was them who pushed for the leaders of the three conferences to be granted automatic top 3 status. had the reds not been handicapped gifted a No3 position on the combined conference ladder, the sharks would never have had a travelling schedule like they did in the finals.
sharks may have had a bad travelling schedule, but the no team in super rugby history clocked up as much travelling kms as the crusaders did in 2011 when earthquakes early on in the year meant they couldnt play a single home game in chrischurch.

in saying that, the sharks would never have beaten the chiefs, if they couldnt beat thechiefs in durban in their own back yard, what afre the chances they would beat them in hamilton where the fans were cheering with waikato draught fueled beserker rage???

i love how little folks outside of NZ know about david rennie and wayne smith, but this is a lesson ur going to learn the hard way.

sasuke - Chiefs are a quality side, no doubt. What the managed to do last Season was inspirational. As a Sharks fan we were beaten well and proper. But we wont give you that gift again. You are warned. ha ha .

@goodman,

im a big supporter of NZ teams, i have an order of preference of course, but i do love them all. however its the other NZ cats here who might have a problem with that comment, cos theyre the die hard chief fans, LMAO, :oP

the shaving of the chiefs heads was rasing money for the cure cancer foundation, im guessing the chiefs were covering all their bases, including the karma side of things, lolz.

memo to self, inspire the hurricanes to shave their heads for charity, :o)