Chiefs regain their mojo

The Chiefs had a resounding victory over the Lions in Hamilton.

The Chiefs have regained their attacking form after they posted six tries in a commanding 38-8 victory over the Lions at Waikato Stadium.

It was the Chiefs fifth consecutive win over the Lions, while the crowd of 11,168 witnessed the defending champions bank maximum competition points to put them back on top of the tight New Zealand conference after 12 rounds.

The home side went within inches of scoring the first try when centre Charlie Ngatai pounced on a loose pass only for his opposite Lionel Mapoe making the desparate try-saving tackle to deny Ngatai the try.

Mapoe was amongst the action again this time in attack as he made the bust through the middle which eventually lead to the first points of the match through the boot of Lions first five Elton Jantjies.

After a shaky start defensively, the Chiefs managed to put together some phases as they went about building some momentum and were rewarded when Tim Nanai-Williams put first five Gareth Anscombe in for the try.

Spurred on by the five pointer the hosts set about taking the advantage and looked to have scored when young Bay of Plenty hooker Nathan Harris did superbly to dot down in what would've been a great individual try.

However, TMO Ben Skeen had deemed prop Josh Hohneck had obstructed a Lions defender prior to Harris' run earlier ruling out the try.

Undeterred the Chiefs continued to attack the Lions defensive line which saw Ngatai break through and link up with blindside flanker Tanerau Latimer who touched down in the corner.

The visitors would suffer another blow right on the stroke of halftime when Ngatai put his name on the scorers sheet when he locked on to a loose ball before nudging ahead for the try to put the Chiefs up 19-3 at halftime.

It wasn't long before the Chiefs stamped their mark in the second half as a deft kick in behind the defence by Anscombe almost saw replacement Bundee Aki reap the rewards.

Big prop Pauliasi Manu surged over for the bonus point try.

The Lions though would answer almost immediately, after a mix up on the Chiefs scrum saw the ball spread out before Jantjies connected with winger Courtnall Skosan to slide in for the try.

After denying the Lions attempts, the Chiefs struck back when Andrew Horrell put a well place kick for Aki to latch on to as he dived in for the side's fifth try of the evening.

It wasn't over for the South African side as crowd favourite Tim Nanai-Williams used his slick footwork to get past the defence close to the line to close the scoring 38-8 in the Chiefs favour.

Chiefs coach Dave Rennie was pleased with his troops and ultimately got what they wanted from the contest which was the competition points.

"We created some opportunities, so it was a step up but we need to step up further than that against the Blues next week," he said.

Bay of Plenty hooker Nathan Harris was one of the stars and tonight's game was significant as he earned his first start.

"I feel very privileged and honoured to not only represent myself but my family and where I'm from," he said.

"It's been a pretty big week for me, it's been a roller coaster but it's good."

Harris mentioned the team would be keen to get back to training and work on suring up their set piece as they aim to improve on their performance next week when they host the Blues down in New Plymouth for the first time.

The contest will be played at Yarrow Stadium next Friday night with kickoff at 7.35pm.

Chiefs 38 (Anscombe, Latimer, Ngatai, Manu, Aki, Nanai-Williams tries; Anscombe 3 con, Horrell con) Lions 8 (Skosan try; Jantjies pen)