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'There's been quality at the Chiefs for years and years, long before Warren arrived back there.'

Warren Gatland. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

Brumbies coach Dan McKellar has backed his men to clinch an against-the-odds Super Rugby victory against the unbeaten Chiefs in Hamilton on Saturday.

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The Australian conference leaders are winless in Hamilton since 2007 and haven’t posted a victory anywhere in New Zealand since 2014.

The Brumbies lost a heartbreaker after the siren last week against the Highlanders and have only beaten Kiwi opposition three times since in the past four years.

But they thrashed the Chiefs 54-17 in Canberra last season and despite a mumps outbreak derailing their preparation this week, McKellar is confident of an upset.

“They’ve got a fair bit of talent there but we’ve got a good side as well,” McKellar said.

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“We had some tough circumstances last week. We were 20 seconds away for a famous win for our club, it was real backs to the wall.

“There was certainly disappointment after the game and frustration around a few decisions.

“That’s rugby and we’ve moved on.

“We’ve got full confidence and belief in our own ability as well.

“We’ve come over here to do a job.”

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Warren Gatland was last at the Chiefs in 2007 before coaching Wales to four Six Nations titles in 12 years and he’ll lead the British and Irish Lions on their tour of South Africa in 2021.

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McKellar said the Chiefs have been quality for a long time but admitted Gatland has had an immediate impact on his return to Hamilton this season.

“There’s been quality at the Chiefs for years and years, long before Warren arrived back there but he’s obviously had a positive impact on them, no doubt,” McKellar said.

“They rolled the three-times champions (Crusaders) a couple of weeks ago so you have to respect them.”

Brumbies hooker Connal McInerney will start with last week’s hat-trick hero Folau Faingaa rested, while winger Andy Muirhead also gets his first run-on of the season together with centre Irae Simone who returns from sickness.

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– AAP

WATCH: See what else coach Dan McKellar had to say ahead of the round 4 clash.

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Flankly 1 hour ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

4 Go to comments
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