Rugby: Chiefs grind out narrow win

Liam Messam looks to bump off Tim Boys. Photo / Getty Images.

Despite struggling with lineout problems for much of the match, the Chiefs held on for a 14-10 Super 14 rugby win over the Highlanders in Invercargill tonight.

The Highlanders, playing with renewed confidence after last week's 6-0 win over the Crusaders, were once again on the wrong end of a tight-scoring match.

With the scores tied 7-7 at halftime, the second spell descended into something of an arm-wrestle as the Chiefs ground out the win at Rugby Park, helped in no large part by some weak Highlanders defence in the closing 10 minutes.

The Highlanders drew first blood when Fetu'u Vainikolo crossed after 15 minutes following a smooth set piece move. Cowan moved the ball quickly from the scrum, and winger Ben Smith powered into the back line, creating the overlap and floating out a sweetly timed pass out to Vainikolo, who touched down in the corner.

Daniel Bowden converted and the Highlanders eased out to a promising early lead.

Just over 10 minutes later, elusive fullback Mils Muliaina broke out from the 22 and some excellent support play from the Chiefs saw Tanerau Latimer latch onto Liam Messam's bobbled back pass and dive over for the try.

Donald's sideline conversion saw the scores levelled with just over 10 minutes until halftime.

Muliaina, returning after three weeks off with a back strain, provided some much-needed direction for the Chiefs talented backline, with Lelia Masaga in particular looking consistently dangerous.

The Highlanders battled mightily for the closing 10 minutes of the first half after hooker David Hall was binned for not rolling away, but the Chiefs couldn't capitalise and with three minutes to go Muliana joined Hall on the sideline for infringing at the ruck.

The Highlanders started the second spell strongly, with the Chiefs forced to defend their line one man short until Muliaina returned seven minutes in.

The Highlanders defence, solid last week as they kept the Crusaders scoreless, was immediately under pressure on Muliaina's return, but held firm with All Blacks loose forward Adam Thomson particularly impressive with his work in and around the tackle.

The Chiefs came close 15 minutes into the second half, when Muliaina charged down Highlander's halfback and captain Jimmy Cowan's clearing kick inside the 22. Muliaina toed the ball ahead but Vainikolo came from behind to win the race for the ball over the line and deny Muliaina the try.

The Chiefs eventually paid the price for too many errors at the breakdown, with Liam Messam penalised right out in front for flopping over the ball and Bowden making no mistake with the penalty to give the Highlanders a 10-7 lead.

But barely a minute later, a piece of Masaga magic put the Chiefs back out in front as a remarkably balanced run along the touchline saw him shrug off four players to score in the corner.

Donald made no mistake with a difficult conversion, and with 10 minutes to go, the Chiefs edged out to the narrow 14-10 lead they maintained until the final whistle.

Chiefs captain Muliaina said afterwards the match gave his team plenty to work on in the coming weeks.

"Looking on the positive side of things, we got the win. We were lucky to get four points out of it because it was a pretty ugly game," held told Sky Sport.

"We have to carry on our momentum and we look forward to a big weekend. There's definitely a lot of things to work on for next week (against the Blues)."

Highlanders captain Cowan was left ruing the lack of continuity in his side's game, and the errors at crucial times. "We're very disappointed as a group. We're not building phases and getting continuity in our game.

"We played with a lot of confidence and we're making a lot of line breaks but then coughing up the ball at crucial times."

- NZPA