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Chiefs battle back to stay perfect, Hurricanes beat improved Reds

Chiefs fly-half Aaron Cruden (left) and back Damian McKenzie

Chiefs remain unbeaten in Super Rugby this season after coming from behind to defeat the Bulls 28-12 and the Hurricanes piled more misery on the Reds with a 34-15 away victory on Saturday.

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The Bulls threatened to consign the Australasian Group leaders to a first loss of the campaign when they went it at half-time 9-3 up following three Handre Pollard penalties, with Aaron Cruden scoring the Chiefs’ only points from the tee.

But wing Shaun Stevenson scored the opening try 12 minutes after the break, racing to pick up his own grubber kick and dotting down for a score which Cruden converted, before adding a penalty.

Pollard responded with a fourth penalty to reduce Chiefs’ lead to 13-12 with just under 20 minutes remaining, but Cruden slotted a penalty of his own prior to Damian McKenzie and Atu Moli going over in the final 10 minutes to give Dave Rennie’s men breathing space.

Hurricanes made it four wins out of five, but they were also made to work by an improved Reds side at Suncorp Stadium.

Reds were in danger of being blown away when Julian Savea crashed over and captain TJ Perenara added another soon after, with Jordie Barrett converting both scores to put Hurricanes 14-0 up midway through the first half.

Beauden Barrett had a try ruled out when Ngani Laumape was shown a yellow card for a late tackle and Reds came roaring back, as Scott Higginbotham superbly laid a try on for Chris Kuridrani and scored one of his own after coming up with another clever offload.

Reds were only 14-12 down at the interval, but Vince Aso finished early in the second half following a great run from Ardie Savea before brilliant brothers Jordie and Beauden Barrett added further tries to put the Canes out of sight.

There was also a victory for Blues, who secured a 24-15 success over Western Force.

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Nickers 29 minutes ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

I thought we made a lot of progress against that type of defence by the WC last year. Lots of direct running and punching holes rather than using width. Against that type of defence I think you have to be looking to kick on first phase when you have front foot ball which we did relatively successfully. We are playing a lot of rugby behind the gain line at the moment. They are looking for those little interchanges for soft shoulders and fast ball or off loads but it regularly turns into them battering away with slow ball and going backwards, then putting in a very rushed kick under huge pressure.


JB brought that dimension when he first moved into 12 a couple of years ago but he's definitely not been at his best this year. I don't know if it is because he is being asked to play a narrow role, or carrying a niggle or two, but he does not look confident to me. He had that clean break on the weekend and stood there like he was a prop who found himself in open space and didn't know what to do with the ball. He is still a good first phase ball carrier though, they use him a lot off the line out to set up fast clean ball, but I don't think anyone is particularly clear on what they are supposed to do at that point. He was used really successfully as a second playmaker last year but I don't think he's been at that role once this year. He is a triple threat player but playing a very 1 dimensional role at the moment. He and Reiko have been absolutely rock solid on defence which is why I don't think there will be too much experimentation or changes there.

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