Rugby: Child's play for Chiefs

Chiefs' halfback Tawera Kerr-Barlow scores against the Blues last night. Photo / Getty Images

There was always going to be one team leaving Waikato Stadium contemplating a horrible start to their 2012 campaign.

Most people thought it would be the Chiefs. Instead they poured on 29 first-half points, embarrassing a lethargic Blues team direction and composure.

This was a match played for the benefit of Plunket, but it is the Blues' fractured egos and confidence that will need nursing back to health as they board a plane for South Africa this afternoon.

The delights of Pretoria and Loftus Versfeld await.

It will take all of Pat Lam's restorative powers and the remaining vestiges of pride among the senior players to register their first win of the season in that cauldron.

As for the Chiefs, there might well be something to this Dave Rennie-inspired season-of-renewal palaver.

They won't find many opponents as willing to gift-wrap possession to them, but they showed they don't need a lot to stack up points in a hurry.

The Chiefs went out and bought themselves some high-profile imports this season - think Rennie, his assistant Wayne Smith, Sonny Bill Williams and Aaron Cruden - but it was an under-the-radar signing who provided the Chiefs will a real spark.

Robbie Robinson, the Southland utility turned Chiefs fullback, was the key figure in two spectacular long-range tries.

The first involved him breaking from deep, beating the flimsy tackle of Jerome Kaino no less, before sending Asaeli Tikoirotuma in.

Later, he hovered on halfback Tawera Kerr-Barlow's shoulder before taking an in-pass and rushing deep into Blues' territory.

Tim Nanai-Williams, forced to the left wing to accommodate Robinson this season, ended up the beneficiary of that break.

Robinson might have been quiet against his former teammates in week one, but this wasn't a bad way to introduce your talents to a new crowd.

The Chiefs were already on the board before the fullback's intervention, scoring their first try from a well-worked lineout move, something that was beyond them against the Highlanders.

They could count themselves a little lucky.

A couple of phases earlier Kerr-Barlow appeared to air-shot an attempted grubber but referee Keith Brown ruled he had got a scrap of boot leather to the ball and allowed play to continue.

Cruden nailed the sideline conversion and a 48m penalty soon after. With the weather threatening to get grubbier as the night grew longer, a 10-point lead did not look insignificant.

The Chiefs, for all their flair, will remain a frustrating project for the some time yet. Just when they had it all over their northern neighbours they handed the Blues six points with two silly mistakes. Adherence to Brown's interpretation of the rule book would be something they would struggle with all game.

Robinson's class intervened at the right time, however, and that would be as close as the Blues would get.

If Lam and his crew, including captain Keven Mealamu in a New Zealand record-setting 137th Super rugby match, want to grasp on to positives during their long flight to the republic, they were better in the second half.

Certainly defensively, although Kerr-Barlow still seemed to find incredible acreage in which to demonstrate his speed from the breakdown.

This has been a tough fortnight to be a Blues fan. The promise of that one-point loss to the Crusaders melted away in the Hamilton rain. For those who follow the Chiefs, just the sense that this could be the start of something.

The Crusaders lie in wait, however

Chiefs 29

Tries: A Taumalolo, A Tikoirotuma, T Kerr Barlow, T Nanai-Williams
Cons: A Cruden (3)
Pen: Cruden

Blues 14

Try: S Stowers
Pens: M Hobbs (3)
HT: 29-6 by Dylan Cleaver.