From soft touch to near untouchable, the Chiefs' supposed Achilles heel has so far proven to be their trump card - although grizzled loose forward veteran Tanerau Latimer has warned any let-up in intensity against the Brumbies in Tauranga on Friday will end in tears.
Few would have picked the under-rated Chiefs' pack to crush the Crusaders' scrum in Napier last weekend but the franchise's tight five are suddenly being taken more seriously after bullying and buckling the mighty Franks brothers and fellow All Black Corey Flynn, with the trio eventually disappearing under a slew of set-piece penalties.
The scrum dominance had an enormous say in the outcome of the game, as well as announcing to their rivals that the Chiefs supposedly lightweight tight five can't, in fact, be taken lightly.
But with the Brumbies, who arrive in Tauranga today, gunning for three wins in a row for the first time in two years when they play the Chiefs at Baypark Stadium, 66-game Super rugby veteran Latimer said the hard work was only just starting.
"There's a definite buzz among the boys right now [after two wins from three] but the trick is to not get too far ahead of ourselves," Latimer said after training yesterday in Hamilton.
"We had a bit of motivation playing against All Blacks these last few weeks so it's easy to get up for those games. But the Brumbies are a team that sit under the radar a bit and we need to remember they're a couple of points ahead of us [after tight wins against the Western Force and Cheetahs] in the standings. They'll be tough."
The youthful Brumbies showed rare poise last weekend in their last-gasp 24-23 win over the Cheetahs. Last year it took them two months to get two wins. Their scrum changed the momentum of the match, dominating the Cheetahs and winning a last-minute penalty that Christian Lealiifano kicked to clinch the result.
But in 140kg Ben Tameifuna and a fired-up Sona Taumalolo, the Chiefs have a couple of weapons of their own, with head coach Dave Rennie handing the plaudits to forwards coach Tom Coventry for whipping the tight five into a unit.
"Tom's done a great job... as a [midfield] back I haven't got a clue what goes on up there," he said and laughed. "People were quick to say before the season had even started that we wouldn't be competitive up front, but we picked a bunch of guys we thought would be competitive, with good work ethic.
"So far they've fronted, as we knew they would, and for us to launch, our set piece must go well."
Latimer said the pack had been building all last week for a crack at the Crusaders: "Kudos to the boys up front but as a collective eight we'd been simmering. As always on game day we were nervous but when that first scrum came and got a penalty for us, the boys took a huge amount of confidence and it went from there."
Second-five Sonny Bill Williams (neck) and fullback Robbie Robinson (groin) didn't train yesterday but are expected to be fit to play on Friday.
Rennie said there was a buzz starting to build within the squad after two wins on the bounce.
"The boys are a happy bunch and a lot of it isn't even about results - it's about how they played and their attitude."