Fearsome Chiefs within reach of crown
27 Jul 2012
RYAN VREDE reports on a compelling semi-final in which the Chiefs explored new depths in their game to beat the fancied Crusaders 20-17 in Hamilton.
These teams produced an epic three weeks ago at this venue, and, fittingly, considering the magnitude of the occasion, elevated their games to deliver one of the tensest (most tense) semi-finals in Super Rugby history.
It lacked for nothing, not technical skill, tactical intelligence, brutality, breathless passages, breathtaking individual skills. Neither the intangibles, like inspiring resilience and the desperation that accompanies that a deeply-rooted desire for victory, reflected in the pursuit of attacking and defensive inches. Nothing. Ultimately the Chiefs were marginally better, but that’s all they needed to be.
The big name players had their moments, Cruden exhibiting once more that he is fast evolving into a flyhalf of the absolute highest quality, Williams showing his fire-proof temperament and McCaw valiantly attempting to rouse his men through deed and words. But tellingly the Crusaders’ fulcrum, Dan Carter, fell well short of his high standards, making fundamental errors and lacking presence. He can’t be blamed for the defeat, but his struggles undoubtedly contributed to it.
The Chiefs’ line speed, physicality and accuracy in defence rocked the Saders, who uncharacteristically made numerous handling errors and regularly made themselves vulnerable to being turned over by runners isolating themselves. The Saders were never allowed to settle into their pattern and were made to look decidedly ordinary for the bulk of the contest.
By contrast the Chiefs buzzed on attack for much of the first half and then sustained their defensive effort and discipline through the next 40. With regards to the former, their back division profited from the potency of the strike runners in their pack. Cruden and Carter traded penalties to get the scoreboard rolling, but Williams ignited the contest with a scything break in a move that culminated in prolific prop Sona Taumalolo burrowing over from close range. The Chiefs extended their lead in the 25th minute when Robbie Robinson blitzed the defence before Williams sniped around an unguarded ruck fringe to set up Liam Messam. Cruden converted for a comfortable 17-6 lead.
The match situation called for a rebuttal from the seven-time champions and it came just before the break, Ryan Crotty darting through a depleted defensive line to score. Carter missed the conversion but trailing by just six the Saders would have felt confident given their pedigree and superior experience.
The arm-wrestle continued after the restart, with neither side able to impose their will. Carter kicked two penalties to Cruden’s one, taking the match into the final quarter with the hosts ahead by three.
Understandably neither side were prepared to take risks with the stakes as high as they were, pragmatic play marking the closing stages. This of course was not uncharted territory for the Saders, but they were met by an irresistible force that absolutely refused to relinquish the inches the Saders sought, first to breach the tryline, then, in one final act of desperation, to set up Carter for the game-levelling drop-goal.
With every phase you could see the Chiefs’ resolve deepen. Not here. Not now. Smash. Get up. Smash. Get up. There are varying things in sport that inspire people. The determination the Chiefs showed in those dying minutes holds universal appeal. Every tackle drove the Saders further away from their goal until finally the ball was grassed under pressure.
Massive celebration. The kings are culled. The Chiefs now have to ensure they complete their ascent to the throne.
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518 Comments
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27 Jul 2012, 12:22 pm
@whatever-294:
In KZN the Police vans use it for shopping parking. Bloody farkers
27 Jul 2012, 12:23 pm
I didnt expect this to be the result.
On a different note the Olympic starts today.
I see they have armed police to guard the events.
Apparently at the paralympic games the police were unarmed.
27 Jul 2012, 12:24 pm
keo get his kicks
watching muppets
posting to and fro
when do they ask him
what the f u k?
he say, i want your money bro
27 Jul 2012, 12:24 pm
@stormersboy-302:
I see what you did there.
27 Jul 2012, 12:25 pm
@stormersboy-302:
27 Jul 2012, 12:27 pm
@whatever-294: @Mr Black-301: Eish you two, that went right over the top didnt it?? It was a joke i copied and pasted ffs
27 Jul 2012, 12:28 pm
so the other day in the pub i was laughing at a mates retelling of the old joke, what do you do if an epileptic throws a fit in the bath? throw your washing in!
a big guy tapped me on the shoulder and said “thats not very funny, my brother was an epileptic and he drowned in the bath during one of his fits”
i said “sorry mate, did he drown?”
“no” he said “he choked on a sock”
27 Jul 2012, 12:28 pm
@ufo-292:
Its working buddy!!!!
27 Jul 2012, 12:32 pm
@rangerman-307: hahahaha sies!
27 Jul 2012, 12:32 pm
@sharks_lover-306:
I got you joke, very funny.
I was serious though.
And Whatever is very sensitive.
@rangerman-307:
27 Jul 2012, 12:33 pm
@stormersboy-302:
Lol…. I also did not expect this to be the result. Based on history I seldom predict the results of 2 big games wrong in succession so things are looking good for tomorrow.
27 Jul 2012, 12:33 pm
@Robzim-311: ja i also lost points on this one.
Hopefully Ill get it 50% right this weekend
27 Jul 2012, 12:35 pm
@Robzim-311:
I hope you are right! Right!…
Very funny jokes indeed…
27 Jul 2012, 12:35 pm
@Mr Black-310:” he must have been a stormer” i said
27 Jul 2012, 12:36 pm
@stormersboy-302: Lol yes i saw your pick on superbru. I got mine spot on!
27 Jul 2012, 12:37 pm
@David-290:
I would support moving the Currie Cup and thus making it the intra Conference portion
However the round robin would have to be increased to being against all the sides. I really dont like that we miss 2 of the overseas sides (1 Aus, 1 NZ)
Dont think we will get it right though.
Of course there could be an overhaul in 2016 and its likely to change to Super 18. Maybe our 6th side plus Japan, Islands and Argentina
27 Jul 2012, 12:39 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged by Mad Eye Productions.-293: no it was a gmail addie
@Mr Black-295: no, but i have a feeling you’re about to tell me
27 Jul 2012, 12:39 pm
@Robzim-311: Based on my Superbru history, my next one should be wrong, as I had the Chiefs to win by 5. History will be repeating itself for one of us, and I hope to hell it is you.
27 Jul 2012, 12:40 pm
@stormersboy-312: I also went with Stormers by 10. I think you went for the same pick right
27 Jul 2012, 12:41 pm
@Transformation-317: Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh
I still hope someone emailed him. Gunther was whinging in his ear when he was online.
27 Jul 2012, 12:43 pm
@Sasuke-319: Yes I did. We don’t need the bonus point this week
27 Jul 2012, 12:52 pm
@Mr Black-310: Yeah jokes aside its pretty carzy how arrogant the police are in thinking they can do what they want.
27 Jul 2012, 12:54 pm
@Mr Black-308:
hehehe…
they should change the message to “you’re clicking too quickly… slow down…”
27 Jul 2012, 12:58 pm
@rangerman-307: Oscar Pistorius en en sy buddy loop in ‘n bar in.
Sy buddy bestel ‘n dubbel, en hy twee enkels.
27 Jul 2012, 13:01 pm
@trupisero-324:
go oscar!
27 Jul 2012, 13:01 pm
Keo, you site is farked.
You Ipad web app is even kakker.
27 Jul 2012, 13:03 pm
Another year sulk
27 Jul 2012, 13:14 pm
@stew-327:
Keep your chin up, Steve Tew.
27 Jul 2012, 13:23 pm
@whatever-271:
The odds makers put the Sharks at 4:7 to win while the Stormers are at 7:5 to win
Go with the money, it’s not all about rugby anymore
27 Jul 2012, 13:29 pm
@trupisero-326:
To my experience they down graded the web site to cut on cost, the system cannot handle the volume it used to anymore, transmission’s rather eratic and recovery time probably 5 times slower
ce la vie
27 Jul 2012, 13:34 pm
Well done Chiefs, the mooloo men came through, good to see a change in the winner’s engraving again, keeping the competition healthy
27 Jul 2012, 13:36 pm
@Hondo-330: No man – Keo is coining it. Popularity is making the site slower. I’m sure it will be sorted now now.
Well done Chiefs. That was one results us Saffers are happy about. Tomorrow will be extremely tight.
27 Jul 2012, 14:25 pm
@stew-327:
hey Steve
You should have made the deposit in Craig Jouberts account earlier, you left it too late.
By the time it went through, there was very little Joubert could do to help the Crusaders.
27 Jul 2012, 15:13 pm
Sonny Bill Williams take a bow!
How good is this guy? At the right place at the right time and the offloads simply sublime
Sharks must pack 2 bags – one for a quick visit to Newlands and then off to Hamilton
27 Jul 2012, 15:30 pm
@Sheriff-334: Sonny Bill is indeed very good. You will be able to go and watch him yourself next weekend.
27 Jul 2012, 16:44 pm
I see the stalker is here
27 Jul 2012, 17:26 pm
Re: the e-mail addy that Keo provided yesterday. I recall it as markkeo (at) mweb (dot) co (dot) za. He undertook to alert the webmaster of the numerous bugs afflicting this site
27 Jul 2012, 18:11 pm
@viewer-337:
I see they’re running WordPress 3.4.1 which was only released 4 weeks ago, and was a bug fix for a version released only 2 weeks before. The web master, like a lot of them, isn’t a genuine IT professional and seems to have made the normal mistake of upgrading without running full tests first and having a rollback plan.
Like most things, the Golden Rule in IT is, if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it!
27 Jul 2012, 19:48 pm
Considering the Chiefs spent most of the night offside I thought the Saders were phenomenal to get so close
Nevertheless
you get away with what you can
so well done Chiefs
27 Jul 2012, 19:49 pm
I wasn’t even aware that this game was today.
Seems a bit unfair that the Chiefs get a whole extra day to recuperate before the final. Oh well, them’s the breaks.
I am pleased with this result, for two reasons.
(1) No way in hell was there going to be two away wins in both semis. Unheard of. So the stars remain aligned for an epic clash in NZ next weekend between 2 of the most exciting teams in the competition.
(2) The Chiefs may argue otherwise, but I reckon any SA team would view their chances as better against the Chiefs than against the Crusaders. It’s just a Crusaders thing. The Sharks have beaten the Chiefs 3 times in 7 games in NZ.
27 Jul 2012, 19:50 pm
I guess now we are going to start seeing more and more Stormerchiefs in the Cape and at Boolands?
27 Jul 2012, 20:01 pm
@wooden spoon-341:
I don’t care how many Stormerchiefs there are at Newlands next Saturday.
The more the merrier.
27 Jul 2012, 20:02 pm
@wooden spoon-340: Howzit Spooner,
The kiwis on Reunion were not happy that they played their semi today and will only know the result of ours tomorrow night. They felt hard done by that if they have to travel they could not have got off straight away on Saturday morning instead of Sunday morning. Then if Sharks do manage to beat Stormers the Chiefs have a extra day to rest and us less time to recover and we will have to travel.
They were saying something has to be done about that next year. Both semi finals should be played on the same day they felt.
I think they should play the finals on a Sunday. They have played quite a few games this year on a Sunday. That way the team that does have to travel has that extra day. Probably not here or there I suppose.
Anyhow it should be a cracker tomorrow. Really looking forward to this derby.
27 Jul 2012, 20:13 pm
@Puma-343: Howdy Puma. But if the Sharks win they have to leave on Sunday morning too…. The Chiefs should simply be grateful for the extra day’s rest.
Tomorrow should be a cracker but I’m nervous. Everything is stacked in the Stormers’ favour, confirmed by the bookies having them as favourites.
27 Jul 2012, 20:44 pm
The only realistic chance for a sa team to win this comp would be if the stormers beat the sharks tomorrow and the chiefs must travel to SA. No need to elaborate on thie reasons as everybody knows why. I hope my shark friends can also see the bigger picture and will not get too upset if their team lose as it will be better for “volk and vaderland”.
27 Jul 2012, 20:55 pm
Super rugby is a provincial/regional competition not an international competition. I only support one team.
If my team lose tomorrow I couldn’t care less who ends up winning it, probably won’t even watch the final.
27 Jul 2012, 20:56 pm
So I don’t buy the “it’s better for SA if the Stormers win tomorrow” dribble one bit.
Sorry.
If the Sharks win, are you telling me that they have no chance at all? Kak!
27 Jul 2012, 21:00 pm
@wooden spoon-346:
Ja, personally I also feel like you but based on many posts here over the last few years it seems as if most bloggers don’t feel the same.
27 Jul 2012, 21:03 pm
@wooden spoon-347:
I think their chance will be remote (nearly zero) to do the timezone’s crossing yet AGAIN and beat a team that plays a high tempo game in NZ.
27 Jul 2012, 21:05 pm
@Robzim-349:
If they manage to do it and win the comp it will be the biggest achievement in superrugby history but i really do not believe the current shark team has it in them to achieve it.
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