Rugby: Chiefs seal playoff place

Liam Messam scored the Chiefs' second try in their win over the Reds. Photo / Getty

Reds 3
Chiefs 24

It's an outcome that is the new normal under Dave Rennie - the Chiefs tonight reached the playoffs for the fourth straight season to continue their hunt for another title.

And if they can put together anything resembling a complete performance in the coming weeks, Rennie's side have a real shot at adding to the two championships they claimed in the opening years of his reign.

The Chiefs were far from complete tonight, with a slow start compounded by a set piece that was doing more harm than good. But nothing phased the visitors and they gradually resembled a side desperate to seal their playoff fate, intense on both sides of the ball and brutal in the collision.

Both captain Liam Messam and world player of the year Brodie Retallick returned from injury and aided immeasurably in that intensity, with the Chiefs' improving health, combined with an abundance of experience at this time of the year, making them a dangerous proposition come the playoffs.

The competition's other title contenders certainly would have been concerned with the comfortable manner in which the Chiefs dispatched the Reds in Brisbane, considering the Kiwi side stumbled through parts of the match.

Their problems were both familiar and unexpected. Ill-discipline, as it has all season, once again plagued the Chiefs' efforts in the early stages, infringing on seven occasions in the opening quarter to allow the Reds to monopolise both possession and field position.

And when the Chiefs did manage to sniff out a bit of ball, they immediately squandered it with a set piece that was sloppy at best. Both the scrum and the lineout have been strengths throughout the campaign but, after making four changes to the forwards, both facets lacked fluidity to begin the game.

All the issues meant the Chiefs were mightily impressive in keeping their line in tact, thankful for the opposition's profligacy on a couple of occasions and reliant on an obdurate defence the rest of the time.

The efforts of that defence were repaid in fine fashion when the Chiefs did get their hands on the ball, showing the Reds just what to do when in a promising position.

First, the showed positivity, turning down points and kicking for touch three times before Bryce Heem scored the first try of the match. Then, the Chiefs displayed the benefits of varied attack, soaking up possession before switching gears in a heartbeat to showcase a clinical edge the Reds were seriously missing.

It wasn't long before Messam provided additional reward for all the pressure his charges were piling on the Reds' defence and, after Michael Leitch was sent to the sin bin just before the break, the Reds were again unable to penetrate a Chiefs defence solid around the fringes and swarming whenever the ball was spread.

The Chiefs could have been doing it much more comfortably had they managed to shrug of the struggles of the set piece, which was still losing far too much ball and presenting the Reds with plenty of options to find their rhythm in attack.

But, despite making twice as many tackles, the Chiefs showed no signs of tiring, refusing to give up any ground and restricting the Reds to a single line break. And that was a statistic Charlie Ngatai doubled in the space of a minute, going close in the corner before sauntering through a hole to seal victory and a playoff place.

Reds 3 (Cooper pen)
Chiefs 24 (Heem, Messam, Ngatai tries; Horrell 3 cons, pen)
HT: 3-14

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