Thanks to a dominant scrum, poor Moana Pasifika discipline allowing them to apply pressure from set pieces and good, fast ball movement, the Chiefs were ahead of the clock after the opening 40 minutes as they took a 43-7 lead into the break.
Speaking to Sky Sport at halftime, Chiefs coach Clayton McMillan said the challenge for his side would be to go on with the job and not let their hosts fight back.
“We’ll walk away disappointed if we start getting sloppy and start playing a brand of rugby that brings about errors and allows Moana to get back into the game.”
The Chiefs didn’t score another point until the 78th minute as Moana Pasifika dictated the play in the second stanza.
Whether it was the mass changes or whatever coach Fa’alogo Tana Umaga said in the shed at halftime, there was a renewed fight in the hosts once play restarted.
After needing 33 minutes to find their way over the line in the first half, it took just three minutes for Moana Pasifika to strike in the second half as prop Abraham Pole crashed over.
Discipline and errors were beginning to affect the Chiefs’ play, and Moana Pasifika began to find their way back into the contest.
With tries to Sama Malolo and Tuna Tuitama, before an intercept try to William Havili, Moana Pasifika had brought the game back to within 10 points with about five minutes to play.
But their disciplinary woes from the first half crept back in late, allowing the Chiefs to put the pressure on again from their lineout drive, with a 78th-minute try to hooker Samisoni Taukei’aho pushing his way over.
It was a real Jekyll and Hyde performance from the Chiefs. The first half was almost as perfect a 40 minutes as they could have hoped for.
They were being allowed to have their way with the football, exploiting the space out wide and within the defensive line to run in six first-half tries.
Of those, the two scored by Damian McKenzie and Manaaki Selby-Rickit were perhaps the most alarming for Moana Pasifika, as the two Chiefs players were able to run around defenders relatively untouched to score.
The second half saw Patrick Pellegrini and William Havili make their mark on the attacking side of the game, with Pellegrini again showing his talents as a goalkicker.
There was perhaps some contention over Tuitama’s 70th-minute score in the corner; the Moana Pasifika outside back doing an incredible sell job to be awarded the try after replays showed he was losing control of the ball, but might have been lucky that his thumb remained in contact as the ball hit the ground.
But ultimately, Moana can take plenty out of their fight back against the competition leaders, while the Chiefs will be left with plenty to address in the coming weeks.
“Everything was going right for us in that first half ... it felt like nothing could go wrong at that point,” Chiefs captain Luke Jacobson told Sky Sport.
“In the second half, Moana came out strong, we started to lack a little bit in some of our set piece areas and gave them the chance, and Moana got some good wind in their sails.
“Not quite how we wanted the second half to go, but happy to come away with the win. Credit to Moana for coming out hot in the second half.”
Chiefs 50 (Bradley Slater, Shaun Stevenson, Xavier Roe, Leroy Carter, Manaaki Selby-Rickit, Damian McKenzie, Samisoni Taukei’aho tries; McKenzie 6 cons, pen)
Moana Pasifika 35 (William Havili 2, Abraham Pole, Sama Malolo, Tuna Tuitama tries; Patrick Pellegrini 5 cons)
HT: 43-7
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.
