First take: Chiefs play like champs; NZ Herald

The Chiefs played with the heart of champions at Loftus Versfeld in an extraordinary draw with the Bulls.

They not only staggered back into title life after the Perth disappointment, but also put a major ding in a top title rival.

The Chiefs would have started to doubt themselves but for their late surge in this thrill up the hill.

 

Now the two time champs need to get more out of the man who should be at the heart of their operations, to stay on track towards a Super 15 triple treat.

Test pivot Aaron Cruden's superb late stretch for a try was his finest moment in the game.

 

His initial goalkicking was poor. With the scrum and lineout in particular struggling, Cruden was played out of the game but he didn't do much to find it either.

Get Cruden firing on all cylinders, and the Chiefs become a far more threatening outfit.

 

There's no doubt who is at the centre of the Bulls though. Victor Matfield has soared out of retirement. He is the finest lineout exponent in rugby history.

 

There never used to be a category for rugby's lineout supremo. Matfield created it.

This clash was a classic match up of rugby styles. It ended in a draw, but the Chiefs have more chance of fixing their set piece problems than the Bulls do of finding a magical running game.

 

The Chiefs emerged with a victory of sorts at Fortress Loftus Versfeld.

- NZ Herald

This article is about right IMO.

 

Chiefs played well in the first quarter and last quarter. In between there were a lot of mistakes & because of the poor goal kicking the Bulls were always in it. After the half break when the Chiefs got a yellow the Bulls really got their tails up & points to go with it.

 

But Chiefs did not give up & played brilliantly in the last 10 or so minutes.

 

Matfield is rated very highly even in NZ so he has a lot of respect.

 it was a draw against a team lacking confidence and experience

I wouldn't down play the Bulls. The Chiefs got a draw against a team that had won three in a row, was playing on their home turf & who had just beaten the Sharks. So IMO the Bulls were no easy beats.

 

This does not disguise the fact that the Chiefs played badly for a large part of this game but were good enough & lucky enough to come away with a draw. Plus, if the Chiefs kicked their goals they would have had less of a hard time. So this was also a weakness.

 

It was an enjoyable game to watch - some great tries, good rolling mauls and bulls dominated the line outs and it was a mixed bag at scrum time.

a more accurate title would be chiefs played like champions in patches, mainly the first half and the last 10 minutes.
one of the hallmarks of a champion team is the ability for a champion team to come back from behind when they have no business too.
with the chiefs down 31-15 and 10 minutes left on the board, they looked to be down for the count, but like any true champion they kicked out of the pin and fought to a well earned draw.
similarities to the All Blacks win over ireland are similar in that last 10.

credit needs to be given to the bulls though, they looked to be dead and gone going into the half, the cheifs were the better team for the first 40 easy, only crudens poor goal kicking boots made the contest between the two look better then it really was.
but when the chiefs came out for 2nd half, they were like the force last week for the entire 80, a team possessed.

i got the impression that the chiefs were a little fatigued in the second half, the 2nd wind they got in the last 10 minutes was a combination of chiefs getting panicked powered adrenaline and bulls maybe being a little complacent given their healthy lead.

cheetahs next week should be a 5pt win for the chiefs, anything less then a win should be considered a failure, even though all saffa teams are hard as a mofo at home, chiefs all round are much better quality side, from nearly every position bar hooker and if connie is playing, to the coaches.

"Test pivot Aaron Cruden's superb late stretch for a try was his finest moment in the game."
that was his only good moment in the game.

i still consider crudz the All Blacks No2 10 after carter, but if form was the only preresquite, then barret would be the No2 (technically No1 since DC hasnt played, lolz) and even hickey in his limited game time, playing in a much more inferior team has played better.

"His initial goalkicking was poor. With the scrum and lineout in particular struggling, Cruden was played out of the game but he didn't do much to find it either.

Get Cruden firing on all cylinders, and the Chiefs become a far more threatening outfit."

seeing anscombe take over the goal kicking duties was one of the big keys for the chiefs walking away with the draw.

the correlation between crudz average 2014 form and his new role as captain is too much of a coincidence.

rennis must subscribe to the uchiha clan theory that forwards make the better captains, messam should be running the show, cruden needs to concentrate on his form and his form only.

if ur a back and ur not brian odriscoll, tana umaga or stirling mortlock, then u are a useless captain period.

 What did you guys think about the officials? They nearly drove me nuts at 3am!
1. TMO was too gutless to tell Joubert he may have made the wrong decision over the charge down of the Bulls' kick from behind the line. He was saying the ball had made it into play and therefore the charge down should have resulted in a 22 drop-out. Not 100% sure on the correct decision on this one but one of them certainly got it wrong!2. TMO again dithered and wouldn't make a decision on the Muliaina non-try despite multiple replays showing he'd clearly knocked it on. TMO waited until Joubert said "I think it went forward" to which he replied "I agree".3.Joubert kept stopping play to ask the TMO all sorts of dumb things. The Tikoirotuma so-called interference was a joke decision.4. Both linesmen attempted to get the last 2 tries overturned in a desperate attempt to save the Bulls. The last one was ludicrous; Joubert was right there when Cruden forced the ball and correctly awarded the try. What seemed like a full minute later he let himself be talked into a review by the jerk linesman. He should have had the courage of his own convictions and ignored the linesman.
Too much interference by the linesmen and too much dithering by the TMO and the ref.I rate Joubert a great referee but this morning he was made to look very indecisive.Smacks of the old SA where favourable hometown decisions were the norm!  

 ...moolaa in fairness Joubert was only trying to absolve himself of all responsibility for the upset as he did'nt want anymore death threats from any psychopathic yarpies living in Nthern Transvaal arriving in his letterbox..

 

...Sas, Rennie should listen to you..too funny ...missed you crediting anyone for that last try too mate...also lucky they did'nt sub Cruden like you said as it was his awesome leadership in the last 11 minutes that saw the Chiefs brilliant comeback scoring 3 times ...sounds like you desperately want him to fail but that's not gunna happen sorry mate.. 

 Sas and Cruden like Clevermike and Morne LOL 
Except for one thing, Cruden is brilliant. Sorry Sas, Cruden beat the Wallabies in a RWC Semi-Final while Carter did nothing RWC 2003, 2007 and 2011 .
Moola, "4. Both linesmen attempted to get the last 2 tries overturned in a desperate attempt to save the Bulls. The last one was ludicrous; Joubert was right there when Cruden forced the ball and correctly awarded the try. What seemed like a full minute later he let himself be talked into a review by the jerk linesman. He should have had the courage of his own convictions and ignored the linesman." touche. What a douchbag that Linesman is - he should NEVER be allowed to officiate EVER AGAIN. He was atrocious.

 ..hakwa we must humour these Sth Islanders as their Super XV teams are getting pawned at the moment to borrow a phrase so not much fun being a Mainlander at the moment and okay to be feeling a bit grumpy...

 

... but suggesting Cruden , with the additional credentials of glorious NZ U20s captain and MVP should'nt be a captain coz he's a back is the funniest thing i've heard for a long time ...

...especially with the added contradiction of listing some of the great backs captains in the next sentence...what a comedian...

...maybe someone should tell JDV...

 

... in fairness Cruden did'nt have his kicking boots on today but the Chiefs subscribe to the philosophy of Kaizen so things can only get better...worth mentioning that the Chiefs lost a game at about the same time last year so no need for any hysterics...