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Why the Chiefs can take heart from their one-man destruction at the hands of Jona Nareki

Jona Nareki. (Photos by Photosport)

Despite the eventual 39-23 loss that the Chiefs suffered at the hands of the Highlanders on Friday night, there’s genuinely good reason for fans of the embattled franchise to feel optimistic following their opening game of the 2021 season.

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Because although they were soundly beaten on the scoreboard – suffering their worst loss since April 2019, the nature of the defeat was so different to how they were bested time and time again throughout their first campaign under Warren Gatland.

Last year, the Chiefs managed to, more often than not, dominate the possession and territory stats. With the ball and position they had, however, they weren’t able to produce any sort of penetrative attack. Time after time, players trucked the ball up into the opposition line but there was no incisiveness or creativity to be found and defenders had no problem bringing the Chiefs to ground.

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Ross Karl, Bryn Hall and James Parsons look back at the Crusaders win over the Highlanders and analyse Tony Brown’s comments about the high penalty count which he felt had an impact on the outcome of the game.

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    Ross Karl, Bryn Hall and James Parsons look back at the Crusaders win over the Highlanders and analyse Tony Brown’s comments about the high penalty count which he felt had an impact on the outcome of the game.

    Come the end of the season, the Chiefs had the second-most carries of any team – just behind the Hurricanes. Damningly, however, they were last in the competition when it came to metres gained per carry (2.4 metres) and linebreaks made per carry (one every 27 runs), illustrating how ineffective their attack was despite having mountains of possession.

    They also had the second-most 22-entries of the five franchises (again, behind the Hurricanes), but scored the fewest points and the fewest tries. Opportunity after opportunity presented itself – and the Chiefs failed to land the telling blow.

    That wasn’t the case on Friday night, however.

    Between Samisoni Taukei’aho, Tupou Vaa’i, Luke Jacobson and reserve Ollie Norris, the Chiefs forwards churned through metres on attack – considerably more than their Highlanders counterparts.

    They averaged 3.3 metres per carry, which is more efficient and damaging than even the top-ranked Hurricanes were throughout last year’s Super Rugby Aotearoa season.

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    The backs were also more dangerous, with Damian McKenzie, Etene Nanai-Seturo, Jonah Lowe and replacement Alex Nankivell all regularly finding holes in the Highlanders defence.

    As a whole, the Chiefs made more ground than the Highlanders on attack, beat twice as many defenders as their opposition and controlled territory well throughout the game. In their first three visits to the Highlanders 22, the Chiefs scored three times – one penalty and two tries.

     

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    Their calmness and dominance, combined with a little bit of help from the referee in the form of two yellow cards, helped the side out to a 20-6 lead.

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    Then disaster struck.

    On their fourth visit to the Highlanders 22, Bryn Gatland’s attempted chip over the defence was charged down by Patelesio Tomkinson and ricocheted straight into the arms of Jona Nareki.

    Ten seconds later, the Highlanders had their first try of the game – and from that point on, everything went pear-shaped for the Chiefs – or at least that’s what the resulting score would have you believe.

    Following Nareki’s first try, the Highlanders piled a further 28 points on the shell-shocked Chiefs. The home side managed just a solitary penalty in response. What was looking like a bonus point win turned into a 16-point loss.

    But not everything fell apart for the Chiefs in the 50 minutes that followed Nareki’s length of the field try.

    Quantitatively, they were still the better side in many facets of the game – including most of the attacking stats.

    Yes, some Highlanders players made some worthwhile contributions throughout the game but, by and large, they were outplayed by their opposites.

    Except for one clear, exceptional case.

    Nareki, the man who kicked off the Highlanders fight-back, was a constant thorn in the Chiefs side and while it wouldn’t necessarily sit well with some traditionalists or will forever claim that no one individual is bigger than the team, Nareki was bigger than the Highlanders on Friday evening – and he was bigger than the Chiefs too.

    Nareki ran for 192 metres throughout the game – 45 per cent of the Highlanders’ total 431 metres. He also made five out of his side’s 11 line breaks and beat nine defenders, half of the Highlanders’ total.

    It’s not like Nareki was being given exceptional passes on the outside having already flanked the defensive line either – Nareki was both the creator and the infiltrator when it came to breaking through the Chiefs defence.

     

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    In some way, it almost wasn’t too dissimilar to how the Chiefs struggled at times last season. Little moments – be it knock-ons, poor passes or even the bounce of the ball – cost the Chiefs to varying degrees throughout the 2020 campaign and it was a similar story on Friday just with one major difference.

    Nareki was the man who generated the little moments.

    In the lead up to the Highlanders’ second try of the night, Sam Cane and Tupou Vaa’i missed straightforward tackles on Nareki (at least as far as any tackle on Nareki can be considered ‘straightforward’) before Brad Weber was also bumped to the ground.

    For the Highlanders’ third, Anton Lienert-Brown rushed out of the defensive line to shut Nareki down on the 22 but only succeeded in temporarily slowing the winger before he skipped out of the tackle and headed for the corner.

    Nareki’s last of the night was his easiest of the bunch, simply having to touch down in the corner off a pass from Mitch Hunt – but not every winger would have managed to slip inside the covering Damian McKenzie.

    That wasn’t the end of Nareki’s involvement, however, with the No 11 slinking past generally safe defender Luke Jacobson to almost create one last score for the Highlanders. Jacobson seemingly thought he had Nareki covered until the Highlander accelerated in a flash and the All Black barely laid a finger on him.

    While the Chiefs were generally comfortable keeping the Highlanders at bay, it was when Nareki stepped up to the plate that the game was turned on its head.

    That doesn’t excuse the result by any means. The loss hands the 2012 and 2013 champions their 10th on the bounce, tying them with the Highlanders for a New Zealand side’s worst-ever losing streak in Super Rugby (though a quarter of the Highlanders’ did come to Australian and South African teams).

    Proud men were made to look like fools by Jona Nareki – and there’ll be plenty more defenders who are also stood up by the former New Zealand Sevens rep as the season progresses.

    But aside from their struggles with the one-man wonder, new coach Clayton McMillan will be pleased with the overall performance of his side – and next week’s match against the Crusaders in Christchurch may not be as straightforward a result as many will likely be predicting.

    One-on-one misses aside, the Chiefs already look a more dangerous side than 2020’s iteration – and that will reap rewards as the completion unfolds.

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    J
    JW 1 hour ago
    Where is the new breed of All Black 10?

    Maybe Covid-19 did us some favours after all

    NZR and Australia had a great opportunity to dump Super Rugby and reset with a more sustainable future, but unfortunately they only had eyes on getting back to playing asap, ditto the South Africans with their departure for the immediate salvation in URC. How ironic, to try to continue it on only to have it ripped up, with your squandered chance at something new gone.

    You might look at the guys that have shown a lot of loyalty to us [like Richie]

    No, that’s a bad edit. Why does it need to be a lot of loyalty though? If Richie had of won a RWC for New Zealand surely that would make up for a lack of loyalty in this regard? Of course Mo’unga had said goodbye long before that but Beauden Barrett had also, and he got offered a sabbatical deal to return despite no longer technically being on NZRs books. I guess the elephant here is that Richie accepted a 3 year deal, but that’s what the JRLO teams want, not 1 year, not even 2 years. Why does it have to be about his All Black status that determines loyalty as well? Why can’t any NZ player be given a sabbatical after 8 full SR seasons, and still be able to hold onto that dream if they find themselves flourishing in an overseas environment?

    The All Blacks’ brand has to be seen to be ultimate sporting success story to attract and sustain sponsorship, which spools the debate all the way back to selection policy and Razor’s ability to pick players plying their trade abroad.

    We’ll see if you understand your oxymoron here. No, no other side of the coin presented, not even a cursory to those you know who’ll post lol The reason the brand has been such a success is put solely down to the selection policy, how are you going to change the opinion on that? I don’t think it’s possible, I can see change when they give up trying. Thankfully that looks a long way off and a return to number one immanent for this ‘last hope’ of a rugby stronghold.

    Jacomb was on the field for the first 51 minutes, D-Mac played the full 80. During the time with Jacomb at 10 and McKenzie at 15, the Chiefs were losing 6-14.

    What were the stats then though? That’s what I’d like to know.

    Mo’unga may be on sabbatical in Japan, but absence has if anything increased his importance to New Zealand rugby

    Unfortunately JRLO made some changes to their content protection this year, unsure why, so no, his absences has unfortunately morphed into obscurity. Thankfully Rugby Pass TV has come to the table and given one game a week to NZ viewers if anyone is interested (myself it kinda came too late in the piece).


    Please to see Jacomb get through his third start with such aplomb. Another tight game this week so perhaps another tight performance needed by him again. The Chiefs have lost their second starting fullback so Dmac might be asked to continue in the position for a while yet.

    6 Go to comments
    J
    JW 2 hours ago
    Super Rugby rolls back the years but challenges lie ahead

    There is no appetite – either in New Zealand and Australia or Japan – to recreate a separate team like the Sunwolves to sit as a sole representative in Super Rugby.

    If theres no appetite, why are you suggesting it?


    Any JRLO involvement is a long way off were SR looses its place, and is only a equivalent of the Champions Cup. Which if happened, would still be a general overall win.


    Any inclusion of the Jaguares would also require a recalibration of that tournament. Argentina would not be able to field a strong team by themselves (without changing Los Pumas eligibility again, which we don’t want them to do), it needs the full support of Super Rugby Americas, a competition which runs from Feb to Jun as well. I suppose it really depends how many stars UAR could bring back home, Jaquares have been brought back, so maybe they do have an aim, but would they accept hosting their games out of Santiago (just an hr further than Tokyo)?


    One thing I could see change is SRP moving to finish in Oct.


    Edit: The Sunwolves brand is pretty much Brave Lupus now I’d imagine so this team would need a new name, and I still see Tokyo as being the best place economically to place a new team, but would SRA and MLR get together to share a team their if they don’t have the players to do it individually? It just seems a waste of brand expenditure just for these unions to dip their foot into SR. Perhaps it’s a Hawaiian team?

    3 Go to comments
    S
    Stacy K Davis 4 hours ago
    Crusaders prepare for 'dangerous in all elements' Chiefs game-breaker

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