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CHIEFS 31
FORCE 13
The Chiefs have kept themselves in the Super 14 frame, but only blind loyalty would see them as a title contender after last night's win over the Force in Hamilton.
The Chiefs produced enough thrills to overcome their spills, but they ran too hot and cold
leaving their title chances as still only lukewarm.
Adding to what should be cautious Chiefs delight, Colin Bourke's late try - thanks to a video refereeing call - gave them a vital bonus point after they had an earlier score ruled out for a forward pass and Stephen Donald's poor kick squandered another.
John Mitchell's Force were fairly lifeless and it was a measure of the Chiefs' inability to press home their advantages that the visitors remained in contention well into the final quarter. A more cohesive, less error-strewn Chiefs performance would have put the Perth side away before then.
One of the answers to the Chiefs problems was on the sideline last night. Injured All Black back Mils Muliaina is among the most accurate players in world rugby and it is a quality that is needed to harness the Chiefs' undoubted attacking ability.
Still, they won and that's all that mattered to the Waikato-based side after starting the season with three losses.
They led 21-6 at halftime but could only manage a Stephen Donald penalty and the Bourke try in the second spell, against a fortunate Force try from a spilled bomb, which led to Tamaiti Horua dashing in from 25 metres.
The Chiefs had roared into life in the second quarter, with the highlight being an 80 metre try to injury prone All Black centre Richard Kahui.
Kahui spun out of poor defence near his quarter line, Sitiveni Sivivatu did the intermediate work, and Kahui finished the move.
Such extravagance seemed a long way off in the first 20 minutes, when the usual diet of errors starved the home side of opportunities to kick their season into life.
Apart from an early burst which brought a Lelia Masaga try when the Force defended haphazardly, the Chiefs again failed to master the basics in front of a sparse home crowd.
The lineout was unconvincing, the scrum wobbled, the ball was dropped, and their kick returning was only average - probably because the Force aimed virtually all of their long punts at left wing Sivivatu.
Sivivatu's replies were not awful, but they didn't put the Force under pressure either.
Even through the troubles though, it looked more likely that the Chiefs would bounce back from last week's shattering loss to the Sharks than that the Force would continue on from their shock win over the Brumbies.
Such is the nature of the Super 14, an erratic beast at the best of times.
Chiefs: Lelia Masaga, Brendon Leonard, Richard Kahui, Colin Bourke tries; Stephen Donald 4 con, pen.
Force: Tamaiti Horua try; Matt Giteau con, pen, Cameron Shepherd pen.
Halftime: 21-6.