KEY POINTS:
You guys can do the maths like me," the Chiefs coach, Ian Foster, announced to the media after his side had turned good fortune into bad against the Blues at Waikato Stadium.
"The nice thing is, with five games to play we're playing teams in front of us."
In the case of the first comment, Foster is in serious trouble linking his number-crunching ability to that of the press pack. The reason the media love to use phrases such as "mathematical chances" isn't that we've actually worked anything mathematical out, it's that we admitted defeat in this subject - in about form three.
As for the second statement, if the name of the game is to ensure that an increasing number of future opponents are above you on the table, the Chiefs are doing an outstanding job in 2007.
Who knows where Foster's burst of glorious optimism came from, although those who witnessed his press conference described his actual demeanour as glum.
Little wonder. His side had tripped all over themselves against a Blues team hauled to victory by their second-half saviour Keven Mealamu, who ranks among the finest round-the-field hookers the game has seen.
Mealamu is a cut above. For the Chiefs, it was yet another defeat involving death by a thousand cuts, mostly self-inflicted.
Here was the lie of the land: The Blues lost their leader Troy Flavell on the eve of the game, coach David Nucifora opted to leave the brilliant Mealamu and the unpredictable Ali Williams on the bench, world-class prop Tony Woodcock was having his first big game back, Luke McAlister cried off early on, and a big crowd was primed to roar the Chiefs home. So far so good.
The Chiefs then threatened to rampage all over the misfiring Blues in the first half.
This is where matters began to take a turn for the worse.
The Chiefs couldn't ram home their advantage. They found all sorts of ways to keep the Blues in the game. They conceded meekly in the second half, with a naive and disorganised performance.
At the very end the inspired and physically imposing Blues lock Greg Rawlinson nicked another Chiefs lineout throw, denying the home side a last-gasp attack that could have brought them a draw.
Not that it really mattered. A draw for the Chiefs at this point in the season is as worthless as the loss they ended up with. In the history of a franchise that nearly always falls flat on its face in the middle of the table, what happened in Hamilton on Saturday night ranks as one of their great stuff-ups.
Not to worry, folks, because Foster pointed out encouragingly that the Chiefs have become good accumulators of bonus points. Yes, the Chiefs are awarding themselves bonus points for bonus points.
It is necessary here to point out that five of the Chiefs' seven bonus points have come via the act of losing by not too much. In the old days, this was regarded as choking. Now, apparently, it's cause for celebration.
Events of the past two weeks should intensify the scrutiny surrounding the re-appointment of Foster as the Chiefs' coach until the end of 2009.
This is not to say he has no ability. It's just that the evidence in his favour is scant right now.
Since the Chiefs - or was that their paymasters the New Zealand Rugby Union - reappointed Foster, they have played appallingly against the most talent-challenged Queensland team you could imagine, and wasted a fantastic chance to turn their season around against the Blues. This, after losing their first four matches and having failed to make the semifinals for the past two years.
Compare that, say, to the Western Force, a team in a rugby wasteland who have made more progress in two years than the Chiefs - from a New Zealand rugby stronghold - have achieved in more than a decade.
No professional sports franchise in its right mind would reappoint a coach under the Chiefs' circumstances.
So, who actually made the reappointment?
It was, significantly, announced in conjunction with the re-signing of Foster's Junior All Blacks co-coach Colin Cooper, the Hurricanes coach.
The NZRU is obviously pulling the main strings, having decided that it needs to keep its national coaches away from overseas temptations.
In the Graham Henry era of an all-powerful NZRU positioning the All Blacks - at any cost - for global domination, the Chiefs have been cast as Indians with little choice but to play along.
They may be the first, but won't be the last.
Then again, maybe the Chiefs really believe that Foster is their man.
A lot of hot air drifts out of Waikato rugby, suggesting that the groundwork is being laid for a great Super 14 future even though nothing of this order ever happens on the field.
One of the key points about building a strong franchise is that it enables campaigns to stay on track despite injuries. Yet when the Chiefs break down, they count their broken bones.
What, you might wonder, is Foster's assistant coach Warren Gatland thinking right now. Gatland who has coached at the highest international level, is a Waikato icon, and must surely retain goals way above where he finds himself now.
He was, supposedly, a star on the rise, but the sky has closed in on his ambition.
The Chiefs, with the NZRU providing the muscle, have slammed the door on Gatland. Hanging around for another two seasons, stitched to another coach's coat tails, is probably not in his plans.
If David Nucifora gets the Wallabies job, Gatland might be presented with a lifeline. Timing is everything, though. It's only a mathematical chance for now.
High
Blues hooker Keven Mealamu - a reminder of how good he can be.
Low
Golfer Michael Campbell's 11-over in two rounds of the Houston Open. Okay, he has a major in the bag, and that is no mean feat. But he is often a major waste of talent.
