KEY POINTS:
Chiefs coach Ian Foster was happy to accentuate the positives after Saturday night's stumbling win over the Cheetahs.
Publicly, at least, Foster was oozing positivity, pronouncing himself "delighted" with the result.
His side had, after all, overturned a 17-0 halftime deficit to record their second win of the
season. The result leaves them mid-table, with two more wins than they had this time last year, but it did little to hide some of the glaring inadequacies that still plague the Chiefs.
"It was disappointing to concede tries the way we did," Foster admitted after a sloppy opening that saw both Cheetahs wingers cross, and No 10 Conrad Barnard add two conversions and a penalty. The scores were just reward for the Cheetahs, who were physically dominant and proficient at shifting the ball along their backline.
"I actually thought the Cheetahs played great," Foster added.
They didn't, but nor did they need to against a Chiefs side bereft of possession and ideas in the opening 30 minutes.
Even watching his side blow a couple of golden scoring chances shortly before the break apparently didn't shake Foster's positive outlook, although the knowing look he exchanged with skipper Mills Muliaina when asked about his halftime pep talk perhaps suggested otherwise.
"I actually thought we were not in too bad a place at halftime," he said.
"I felt that we were holding our patience well. It wasn't that far away from opening up."
As it transpired, it wasn't, with flanker Tom Harding ripping the ball from industrious halfback Brendon Leonard to score just four minutes after the restart.
When Sitiveni Sivivatu finished off a sweeping, high-risk break just five minutes later, the Chiefs could have, and should have, run away with it.
Instead, a controversial Callum Bruce try, awarded by the TMO on scant evidence, and a match-winning Stephen Donald penalty four minutes from time allowed the Chiefs to squeak home in highly unconvincing fashion.
"It does hurt," said Cheetahs coach Naka Drotske of a second-half meltdown that extended his side's winless start to the campaign.
Drotske, a former Springbok frontrower who gives the appearance that a blow between the eyes with a pickaxe would do little more than tickle, must have been deeply pained by his team's second-half effort.
The Cheetahs dropped the ball in front of their own posts, kicked out on the full repeatedly and infringed needlessly. Foster must have been equally pained by the way his players failed to accept the charity.
"We missed a couple of opportunities," he conceded.
The Chiefs' list of concerns extends beyond bombing the odd, certain try.
The pack stood up well enough in the set-pieces, and blindside flanker Faifili Lavave had a standout game in place of the dropped Liam Messam.
Harding also had his moments on the openside, but Sione Lauaki is playing like a lost soul. When not taking the ball flat-footed and going nowhere, Lauaki seems to spend most of his time helping out the back three on kick-return duties.
This would perhaps be more understandable if the giant No 8 actually ran the ball occasionally, instead of simply shuffling it to someone smaller and fitter. Lauaki looked annoyed when he was subbed off. Chiefs fans have a right to look annoyed when he is picked to start.
The problems with the backline start and end with Richard Kahui. They started when he limped off injured against the Waratahs, and won't end until he returns.
Kahui's latest replacement, Dwayne Sweeney, was directly at fault for the Cheetahs' first try when he slipped off opposite J.W. Jonker. The Cheetahs centre is a bit of a mystery man, appearing in the match programme in silhouette, but he certainly wasn't the ghost Sweeney made him out to be.
Donald's goal-kicking must also be of concern. The first five-eighths has twice nailed difficult kicks to win matches in recent weeks, but has missed a host of easier chances.
The Chiefs' diet of South African opponents continues on Friday night when they host the Stormers.
