Rugby: Eye-catching Chiefs dressed for success

Mils Muliaina will lead the Chiefs in only their second Super 14 semifinals appearance against the Hurricanes tomorrow. Photo / Getty Images

Finally the Chiefs actually look the part in rugby's Super 14 - so the annual fancy dress party has been put on hold.

New Zealand's perennially under-achieving team are two wins shy of an historic Super rugby title, something that doesn't completely surprise senior players Stephen Donald and Mils Muliaina.

The Chiefs, with a solitary semifinal appearance to dwell on since Super rugby started in 1996, made their customary slow campaign start, with losses to the Crusaders, New South Wales Waratahs and Sharks.

But since then only the Bulls in Pretoria have bettered them.

If they beat the Hurricanes in tomorrow night's semifinal at Waikato Stadium (7.35pm) the Chiefs may get the opportunity to avenge that defeat at Loftus Versfeld, although the Crusaders could yet save them from the arduous trek to Africa.

These twists, turns and uncertainty are a new phenomenon for Donald and his wide-eyed teammates.

"We're not used to this at this time of year, we're usually planning our fancy dress party," the first five-eighth confessed as the Chiefs completed their preparations.

Muliaina, a Super 12 winner with the Blues in 2003, agreed.

"It was kind of weird coming in on Monday. We're usually preparing to review and get out of there.

"Guys were a little bit excited and probably couldn't quite believe we were there."

However, two of the older hands always had faith another shoddy start could be remedied.

"When we were zero and three we were still pretty confident," Donald said.

"Our defence wasn't leaky and we knew our attack would come. To be honest it wasn't panic stations, in other years we've had bigger ruts to get out of."

Donald, looming as Dan Carter's replacement for the early stages of the All Blacks season, felt the squad's depth, maturity and ability to play to conditions got them to the semifinals.

"I guess we're learning to be happy to win ugly," Donald said, in light of hard-fought regular season wins over the Hurricanes and Brumbies.

"In the past we've probably been happier to lose flamboyantly so there has been a change in mindset.

"Everyone goes on about the Chiefs as entertainers but at the end of the day, entertainers don't make the top four.

"We have to be prepared to grind out wins, win ugly and be prepared to live with it."

As a reference point he looks south to Christchurch: "That's what the Crusaders have done all year. Character and guts and accuracy has got them through to the top four."

Those traits have been evident among the Chiefs during their dress rehearsal against the Hurricanes - a 16-8 win in Hamilton on May 9 - and last weekend's 10-7 shading off the Brumbies.

"The guys are mentally a bit tougher than we have been in the past," said Donald, who was responsible for all the Chiefs' points from those matches.

"The Brumbies were on a whole different intensity level compared to us but the fact we were still able to get home and get the points in one of those sorts of games is a sign this team has come a long way."

A 7-11 loss to the Waratahs in round two was the nadir of the Chiefs' season - a contest memorable for their disintegrating scrum and dysfunctional lineout.

A bonus-point win over the lowly Stormers in Cape Town three weeks ago represented the turning point.

After losing to the Bulls, Donald said the Chiefs of yesteryear would have been focused on home.

"The big one was the Stormers game. In the past we'd probably have been happy to be getting on the plane.

"We knew it was going to be a niggly game for us to get up for, and we did, we got the four tries (for a bonus point) and got out of there.

"Once we won that one we thought we'd turned a bit of a corner."

- NZPA