SHARKS 47
CHIEFS 25
KEY POINTS:
Another season, another mid-table finish for the Chiefs.
A campaign that promised so much went the same way as so many others in the early hours of yesterday morning when the Sharks routed the down-on-their luck Chiefs in Durban to claim a playoff spot that three weeks earlier had seemed within the grasp of the Waikato-based side.
Same-old same-old. Or was it?
A form-line that now reads seventh, sixth, seventh and sixth over the past four years suggests it was.
But this was a significant departure from the norm for the Chiefs. The end result may have been the same but this campaign promised more and consequently delivered less than previous years.
If Ian Foster's men had got up to beat the Sharks yesterday - and they gave it a decent crack - they would still have finished an agonising point or two out of the coveted semifinal places. That would have been more typical of the Chiefs.
Instead, they were largely spared their ritual last-round agony, their fate being ordained three weeks ago when the bodies of key performers Brendon Leonard, Simms Davison, Richard Kahui and Tom Willis all but gave up the ghost.
It was yet another grisly chapter in the recurring nightmare that is the Chiefs' injury curse. Factor in last week's mid-game departure of Sione Lauaki and Sitiveni Sivivatu against the Lions and you are left with a team utterly denuded of key performers.
If the Chiefs were a racehorse they would have been shot and carted off to the knackers' yard long ago.
Any side in the competition would struggle to cope with such a devastation of their resources. Against the Sharks, the Chiefs had a good share of territory and possession, they missed fewer tackles and made fewer handling errors. But the Sharks had better players across the park, particularly in key positions.
With Lauaki out, boom No 8 Ryan Kankowski had a field day. It's early days but the rangy Sharks loosie looks a rare talent.
Victory rarely seemed in doubt for the Sharks, even if the nature of it was a touch surprising, with a team of metronomic dullards somehow reinventing themselves as a potent counter-attacking force.
They needed four tries or an 18-point win to claim a semifinal spot. In the end they scored seven and won by 22, but it was hardly a comfortable day in the office, with the Chiefs closing to 21-18 early in the second half after giving up three early tries.
The Sharks finally kicked clear 22 minutes into the second half when lock Steven Sykes crossed for their bonus-point try and Kankowski settled the match with two late tries as Kings Park went into celebration mode.
Viliame Waqaseduadua crossed for a late try for the Chiefs that would have proved no consolation at all as they reflected on a season that got away.
"I thought we played a really committed game," coach Ian Foster said. "We certainly chucked everything at it and perhaps just ran out of juice in the end."
The same could be said of the Chiefs' season, which began to unravel when Leonard failed to board the plane for Perth three weeks ago and Matt Giteau's match-winning penalty for the Force duly snapped the Chiefs' five-match winning run.
Although left deeply frustrated, Foster felt his side had made significant progress this season. "It is pretty clear that when we have our A-team out there we can play at the top end of this championship. I think we proved that. What we have to do now is close out a campaign. We are frustrated. We got into a position where we could have [done that]."
Foster knew he was pointing out the obvious when he said injuries to key players had been a huge factor in their late-season collapse. He also knows it is a familiar refrain for the Chiefs.
There is a suggestion that what is viewed in Hamilton as a curse may really be a side-effect of over-training, but Foster said he wouldn't do anything differently.
"We evaluate injuries pretty heavily. We have had lots of impact injuries that were caused during games and that is just the nature of the beast. I am confident of what we are doing in our training."
There were plenty of positives to come out of the campaign. Foster can point to a forward pack that improved greatly after a slow start, the emergence of Toby Lynn as a dependable ball-winner at lineout time and the growing stature of playmaker Stephen Donald, who also overcame early struggles.
After a year out with injury Kahui underlined his value at Super Rugby level without doing much to suggest he is the All Black-in-waiting many had presumed. Foster said there was a good chance the bulk of the squad would be retained next year but his off-season wish list will still be fairly extensive. A top-flight hooker to replace the departing Tom Willis will be the first priority. After a season of constant backline reshuffles, a specialist centre to back up Kahui would also seem to make sense.
