KEY POINTS:
Chiefs 15 Brumbies 21
HAMILTON - Time is supposedly a great healer. Not for the Chiefs it's not. The last time most of their players graced the lush wilds of Waikato Stadium they were thundering around with intent and purpose.
In the space of just three months
the magic has gone walkabout. The feared rush defence of Waikato was replaced last night by a tentative, stuttering pattern that occasionally came off but rarely put the Brumbies under consistent pressure.
Without Keith Robinson the lineout looked vulnerable with Steven Bates - a pinch-hitter - asked to command the airways. In the midfield, there appeared to be a David Hill-sized hole that Tane Tu'ipulotu tried to fill with his own brand of direct running that lacked the craft and trickery of the Bristol-bound former All Black.
There was also a suicidal obsession with kicking long into the grateful arms of Julian Huxley. The former Reds and Northland player doesn't look as if he could duke it out in a pillow fight but he has the skills and experience to punish loose play.
Time and again Huxley pushed the Chiefs back into their own territory, forcing them to play where they couldn't threaten the scoreboard.
That built the frustration, pushed the panic closer to the surface and inevitably more mistakes were made.
Not that the Brumbies needed much help. They quickly settled into their work, Stirling Mortlock scoring with virtually his first touch of the ball when the defence failed to push up.
With so many old stagers, the Australian set-up quickly realised the Chiefs were trying to blitz the midfield. Smart cookies that they are, the Brumbies started pushing long wide passes to find the space on the flanks.
Going wide early, the Brumbies were able to work Clyde Rathbone in at the corner shortly before halftime and take an iron grip on proceedings.
They were helped no end in the build-up to that Rathbone score by the absence of Marty Holah who was in the sin bin.
Waikato made the breakdown their battleground, using the athleticism of Liam Messam, Bates and Holah to snaffle possession and the brute force of Jono Gibbes and others to gang-up on the fringes.
As much as they tried to dominate the Brumbies in the same area last night, they were prevented by the sterling work of George Smith, Julian Salvi and Mark Chisholm.
The rulings by referee Mark Lawrence also had an influence with the South African official determined to return the game to the bad old days where the team that took the ball in was almost guaranteed to take it out.
There was no contest at the breakdown after both Smith and Holah were binned for doing exactly what thousands of people had paid good money to watch them do.
And yet, despite the regression, despite the lack of cohesion and penetration, the Chiefs still managed to get mighty close to sneaking an unlikely win.
Perhaps that bodes well for them - only good sides can play badly and keep themselves in the context. The worry for coach Ian Foster is that once again his troops have started a Super rugby competition in second gear.
Right at the core of this underperformance there appeared to be a nervousness borne by the weight of expectation.
There's a been a few bob wagered on the Chiefs and plenty of wise old heads have been wheeled out to talk about this being their year.
The players have insisted that within the camp they have been immune to all the hype.
Maybe the error rate was a simple case of early season rust. Whatever the source, it needs to be eradicated pretty smartly. Surely no one is going to tolerate yet another late run on the rails that ends in the familiar close-but-no-cigar scenario.
Chiefs 15
(S. Anesi (2), L. Masaga tries);
Brumbies 21
(S. Mortlock, C. Rathbone tries; S. Mortlock pen, con; J. Huxley 2 pen). HT: 10-5
