The Chiefs have knocked off the Force in an arm wrestle in Perth on Good Friday.
It was a game that on the run of play should have been a lot less close than it was. The Chiefs for much of the match looked the much better side and should have scored more than the two tries they managed. It’s a testament to the scrambling defence, scrapping and work of the Force pack at the breakdown that there were only eight points in it at full time.
There was a noticeable gap in the quality of the attack between the two teams and the Chiefs at several points during the game looked ready to blow it wide open. The Force for much of the game looked like that mythical Dutch kid with his finger in the dyke: holding back the oncoming tide. They were far from disgraced; on the contrary, they fought manfully all night, but they found it very difficult to get their game going against a team who seemed that little bit slicker and faster.
As they have done on many occasions this season, the Chiefs looked extremely dangerous on the counter attack and from pretty much anywhere on the paddock. Their back three ran a great formation and frequently beat first up tackles and/or shifted the ball rapidly to their supporting players. It was quite impressive to watch. What was less impressive was their finishing. In what I think was equal parts good covering defence from the Force and poor handling, the Chiefs didn’t get anywhere near the value out of their attacking raids that they otherwise should have done. Two tries on a night when they dominated is a comparatively poor return. One thing that did surprise was that they played a more structured game in the first half than we have come to expect from them. They attacked a good deal from broken play, of course, but their build up through pick and drive and around the fringes was more prominent than it has been previously.
The Force really found it tough to break through the rush defence that the Chiefs employed. A few times the likes of Mafi and Cummins were able get in behind them and create some good go-forward, but there wasn’t the follow up necessary to convert those half chances into points. It is clear that they were up against a more organised and quicker unit than was the case last week (with due respect to the Reds) and they found it hard to score as a result. It should also be pointed out that the Chiefs’ back division were considerably more experienced as well and had the look of a combination who understands each others game fairly well.
The Result
Chiefs 20 (Masaga, Nanai-Williams tries; Cruden 2 convs; Cruden 2 pens) beat Force 12 (Harvey 4 pens)
Ref: Jonathon White
The Damage
Apart from a few blokes getting patched up, there were no major injury concerns for either team.
The Moment
The Nanai-Williams try after receiving the offload from SBW was the moment that more or less put the result beyond doubt. Sonny Bill was running towards the corner and by my count attracted about five defenders. He flicked the ball inboard and the Chiefs winger did the rest. After the conversion from Cruden it was 14-6 and the game all of a sudden got a lot tougher for the home side.
The Man
Masaga was the official man of the match, but I thought Robbie Robinson was the stand out. He was a constant threat from the back on the counter. He ran great angles coming into the line and set his support players up very well. A couple of nice offloads in the tackle kept the Force defence on the back foot too.
The Talking Point
I thought the talking point was the shambolic breakdown. There were blokes coming in from the side and diving over the ball all night. The Chiefs were by far the worst offenders and I feel that the referee should have reached into his pocket after the fifth or sixth infringement. The cynic in me thinks that perhaps the Chiefs had decided they couldn’t beat the Force back row by legal means and decided to test the limits of the officiating in the tackle area.
