Chiefs 13
It was the right result in the Blues-Chiefs clash - and the Chiefs were very lucky, I thought, not to have suffered a sin-binning and maybe even a penalty try.
It was a pretty ordinary game - even if a hard slog for the forwards - and you could use
up the whole Sean Fitzpatrick book of cliches for that one.
You know, it was a game of two halves; rugby was the winner on the day; and the weather was a great leveller.
And so it was. A horrible, rainy night, but I'd have to say that the referee was a great leveller too in not sin-binning Chiefs flanker Scott Waldrom. In the series of scrums on their own line just before halftime, Waldrom did not bind. You must be bound in a scrum, but all he did was keep his hand on the scrum and then come around offside.
Fair play to him - he buggered things up for the Blues and prevented a score. But what the hell was the referee and the assistant referees doing? Waldrom just kept getting away with it.
Players have to play within the rules and get penalised when they don't (most of the time anyway, unless you're Scott Waldrom) and coaches have to coach within the rules. But refs and assistant refs are allowed to get away with their own interpretations; without any punishment.
The other blooper I thought was made was the Chiefs' desire to change things in the second half. Brendon Leonard - having one of his better games this season - was dragged off for former Blues halfback Taniela Moa.
He promptly gave away about three penalties.
I know coaches believe in - and defend themselves with - the notion that they are 'managing the players' workloads'. Well, stuff the workloads, I say. Let's manage the win first.
The Chiefs now have a tough trawl overseas - taking on the Waratahs before a byeand a clash against the Crusaders. They then travel to South Africa to face the Lions and the Bulls.
Both sides made plenty of mistakes last night, but in the end the difference was Jared Payne's try. It was classic wet weather stuff - ball on foot, chase and dive..