Chiefs captain Sam Cane is bumped by Hurricanes prop Tyrel Lomax. Photo / Photosport
Chiefs captain Sam Cane is bumped by Hurricanes prop Tyrel Lomax. Photo / Photosport
COMMENT
The Chiefs are in more trouble than even their lowly and seemingly desperate position on the table suggests.
They have collapsed post lockdown - descended into a team with few ideas, little attacking structure and almost zero conviction in what they are trying to do.
Their confidence is shot,something undeniable given their lack of accuracy and control against the Hurricanes – particularly in the final 30 minutes when they had a man advantage and just didn't know how to exploit it.
It's unlikely they will deliver a more painfully inept half hour. It was, and this will become more apparent to the players and coaching staff as it sinks in, a travesty both in tactical approach and execution.
The energy and commitment were all there - but absent was the polish and composure.
All that time with such a significant advantage and the Chiefs managed to score just two tries and mostly look like the team under pressure.
That will sting as it was 30 minutes of football that lacked patience and discipline. The Chiefs had all the possession and time they needed and fired blanks – as they have pretty much done since Super Rugby resumed.
It's surprising that they have fallen apart and not just because they were going along quite nicely before the lockdown.
The lack of attacking impact is the hardest thing to understand. In Aaron Cruden and Damian McKenzie, they have two of the better playmakers in world rugby.
Damian McKenzie hasn't been at his best. Photo / Photosport
Brad Weber is also someone who knows how to probe and snipe until a defence breaks open. But all three of them were short of control and imagination as they have been for the first four rounds of Super Rugby Aotearoa.
The Chiefs went East to West no problem but spilled balls, ran into each other and looked unsure when they attacked North to South.
And they didn't get anything of note from their bigger ball runners and that's maybe the most surprising thing of all.
There's been a lack of organisation and urgency about the Chiefs in the last four weeks.
They have employed one-off runners who have been all too easily smashed back behind the gainline and there has barely been a slip pass or an act of deception to force the defence into a rethink.
They look like the Blues of last year. Willing and eager but lacking the finer understanding of what is required to win at this level.
Absolutely the Hurricanes produced a first-class defensive effort as did the Blues the week before and the Highlanders in round one, but the Chiefs are making it easy for teams to shut them down.
Injury hasn't helped them. They have lost more frontline talent than any other team and they have been forced to dig painfully deep at lock where they have been exposed.
That bad luck has hurt them, but it's not solely responsible for why they are languishing as they are or playing as poorly as they have. It's been a factor but they had 30 minutes against 14 men and conjured not much at all.
That alludes to there being some serious issue – a disconnect of some kind, either in application, attitude or understanding.
The lament from within the coaching box ahead of the Hurricanes game was that the playmakers didn't have the balance of options quite right in the first three rounds.
Chiefs captain Sam Cane is bumped by Hurricanes prop Tyrel Lomax. Photo / Photosport
There was too much running and not enough kicking. That balance was not addressed in Hamilton and their attacking game was eclectic bordering on nonsensical at times.
They were enjoying early success in pulling Jordie Barrett out of position with some clever short kicks and then suddenly stopped. When they had their man advantage, Quinn Tupaea summed up the confused thinking when he grubbered the ball a mere 20 metres into touch inside the Hurricanes 22 when everyone around him was crying out to keep the ball in hand.
Something has gone wrong at the Chiefs and effectively this campaign is now over for them. They can't seriously believe they are still in the hunt.
All they can do now is try to regroup and assess why it is they are so disjointed and clunky and that is going to require difficult questions to be asked and hard answers to be given.
