While Moana couldn’t pull off a shock win, the Fijian Drua could, tipping over the Brumbies 33-28 in Canberra.
And in Perth, the Western Force, after falling behind 19-0 inside 22 minutes to a Crusaders side at that point replicating their glory days, fought back to win 31-26.
The table is now headed by the Chiefs on 31 points from the Canes, who have played a game less on 30. The Blues are on 29, and then there’s a gap back to the Brumbies and Reds, with the Crusaders clinging on to their playoff hopes in sixth on 20.
Not sunset yet
From an All Black point of view it was a round where veteran first-fives proved their worth. For the Chiefs, Damian McKenzie showed why his international career is surely far from over. He was a key man on attack, and when accuracy was needed with kicking for touch in a strong breeze, provided that too. At Eden Park, Beauden Barrett had his best game this year. He was more than prepared to take on the defensive line, and his experience and tactical smarts meant he was able to anticipate and deal with some potentially dangerous strategic kicking from the Landers. With Richie Mo’unga in the background, and Ruben Love the pick of the young guns at No 10, when Dave Rennie decides who he wants for his All Black squad at first-five he won’t suffer from a lack of candidates.
A night to remember
The anticipation before big sporting events can sometimes be so high it’s impossible to actually meet expectations. That certainly wasn’t the case with Saturday night’s scorcher in Hamilton where the Chiefs thrilled their fans and surely impressed the most neutral of observers with their 22-17 victory over the Canes. Rarely does a match offer so much.
Attacking intent? Huge from both sides. The Canes set the tone by taking a scrum in the eighth minute rather than a kick at goal, and producing a well-constructed try by wing Josh Moorby. The Chiefs, with Damian McKenzie’s daring matched by the audacity of flying wing Leroy Carter, took up the challenge to attack.
A thrilling finish? After the Chiefs had trailed for 72 minutes, Carter made a sensational break 60m from the try line, and fed replacement back Daniel Sinkinson (Hamilton raised but Hurricanes’ schooled in 2023) whose try, converted by McKenzie, took the match into golden point extra time.
A hero returning? Massively promising Chiefs’ loose forward Wallace Sititi hadn’t played since round four because of a hamstring injury, but his triumphant return was capped with the winning try when he snapped up the ball after a McKenzie attempt at a dropkick was charged down.
Talking of heroes
Chiefs’ captain Luke Jacobson is almost a rarity in professional rugby, a truly local hero. He was born in Cambridge, went to Cambridge High School, and has played every one of his 100 Super games for the Chiefs. The win on Saturday was the perfect celebration for a player who has lived his rugby life in red, yellow and black.
Man of the match
Emotion suggests Jacobson, Sititi, or McKenzie. But reality and fairness dictate that Canes’ hooker, Asafo Amua, deserves the accolade. Amua uses every ounce of his burly 109kg frame to smash aside tackles, or to make them. Containing him is an 80-minute challenge for every team he plays against.
A confronting weekend
After the disappointment of seeing a big lead eaten away in Perth in their eventual 31-26 loss to the Western Force, the Crusaders have the opening Friday night game at the new covered One NZ Stadium in Christchurch against the Waratahs. If there’s not a lot of good news on the injury front it’ll be a tough ask. The willing attitude of the Crusaders doesn’t seem to have changed, but the harsh reality is that the talent pool in the squad is not as deep as it was as recently as last year, when two All Blacks, Dallas McLeod and George Bell, were on the bench in the final with the Chiefs.
Teleporting at Eden Park?
The last eight minutes of the Blues-Highlanders game at Eden Park was so surreal that for wild and crazy incredulity it rivalled the story this week of a Donald Trump-appointed government leader who said he’d been supernaturally teleported 80km, while unconscious, across southern America, and deposited outside a Waffle House in Georgia. In Auckland on Friday night, down 47-26 with five minutes of normal time to play the Landers ran in two converted tries and played three minutes of injury time on the cusp of a legendary comeback. The eventual 47-40 Blues’ victory was a fair reflection of why they were five to one favourites but the men from Dunedin made the game the thriller it was.
Men of the match
Until he was injured just before halftime, when Zarn Sullivan’s shoulder hit his head, Landers wing Caleb Tangitau was a constant rocket-propelled threat. No wonder Landers coach Jamie Joseph was struggling to contain himself after the game about the incident, because there’s no doubt Tangitau was exactly the sort of player you need when a game gets frantic in the last minutes, as this one did.
Tangitau’s running was spectacular, as well as being effective, while the display by Blues flanker Anton Segner provided a basically faultless example of often unrecognised attention to detail. Segner was so good he even outplayed his All Black loose forward teammates, Hoskins Sotutu and Dalton Papali’i, and they were in great form too.
Pasifika heartbreak
As a huge admirer of Pasifika rugby, dating back to Samoa’s win over Wales in Cardiff that set the 1991 World Cup alight, the news of the demise of Moana Pasifika is genuinely saddening. The problems for the team basically come down to money, and the harsh reality is that in professional sport a healthy balance sheet is critical. You certainly couldn’t criticise the courage and commitment of the current playing squad for Moana, who in the Sydney thunderstorm saw their 24-7 lead after 22 minutes whittled away by the Waratahs who would eventually win 29-14. Fair play to the Tahs, but you always wonder how good Moana would be if they had a healthier bank account to recruit from the horde of gifted Pacific Island players now making a living playing in almost every corner of the rugby globe.
