Super Rugby Pacific: Momentum keeps on building for a Chiefs’ title

Chiefs’ Pita Gus Sowakula scores to help his side keep their unbeaten record.
Photo: Photosport

Opinion: There’s a State Highway 1 bypass now that goes around Hamilton, rather than through it. It saves a lot of time if you’re planning on avoiding the hometown of the undefeated Chiefs, but that’s something that’s looking an increasingly unlikely prospect for anyone else trying to win Super Rugby Pacific this year.

Their 33-17 win against the Hurricanes in Wellington underlined just how good the Clayton McMillan-coached side is, regaining the top spot on the ladder while putting a decent dent into the home side’s chances.

The Hurricanes aren’t done by any stretch of the imagination, but really, they needed to be a lot better than a scoreless second half in front of their own fans to live up to the hype.

The result also proved something else. The Chiefs’ squad has remained virtually the same for the last three seasons, giving McMillan the freedom to plan and build a squad solely focused on winning a title. The only real disruption was Damian McKenzie popping over to Japan and back, but the first five has been an exception to the rule and has come back playing very good rugby.

This, really, is what Super Rugby should be like for all New Zealand teams. Instead, the Hurricanes and Blues have coaches that are thinking about their upcoming callups to the All Blacks’ setup, while the Crusaders have the guy who is hiring them.

There is nothing wrong with the obvious coaching aspirations of Leon MacDonald and Jason Holland, and more than enough has been said about Scott Robertson. It just seems a little off that an assistant role is seen as a better gig than being a head coach at a Super Rugby side, in a competition that purports itself to be the best domestic format in the world.

So now the Blues and Hurricanes are in a holding pattern while they figure out what’s going to happen next. Ironically, this is a lesson the Chiefs found out the very hard way when they agreed to let Warren Gatland coach while also being the British & Irish Lions boss, a situation that ended up with nine losses in a row and an increasingly uninterested Gatland never even returning to the coaches’ box after that disastrous 2020 season.

But now they have McMillan, a man solely with his eye on the prize and a more than capable team to go get it. Maybe that’s the secret of their success so far.

Some other observations from the weekend:

• All Blacks first five – For the last few years it’s only ever been about Beauden Barrett and Richie Mo’unga, but if the team was playing this weekend it’d have to be McKenzie, right?
• Moana Pasifika have found a real talent – Miracle Fai’ilagi was outstanding in their game against the Queensland Reds on Friday and provides at least one example of what Moana is doing to develop Pacific Island players. The flanker is on a direct course to represent Manu Samoa, maybe as early as this year’s World Cup.
• But they still lost their seventh game in a row – The Reds cruised to victory despite the heat and Fai’ilagi’s heroics, which probably didn’t ease the pressure much on coach Brad Thorn, but certainly put forward the cases of some players who will be wanting to catch Eddie Jones’ eye later this year.
• Brumbies home games are worth the watch. In our navel-gazing tradition as New Zealand rugby followers, it’s often easy to overlook when things are going well across the Tasman. Fixtures at Canberra Stadium this year have combined for a whopping 285 points, including a thrilling 40-36 win over the Waratahs a fortnight ago and a 43-28 win over a very game Drua side on Friday night.
• Short weekends are hamstringing Super Rugby. We have yet another bye weekend coming up, with none of the games looking like they’ll impact ladder placings other than perhaps the Force at home against the Highlanders. Due to extenuating circumstances, there were no prime time Super Rugby games this weekend. While the crowd in Wellington looked good in the afternoon sunshine, this was a very poor look given that the gap was more than easily filled by intriguing NRL fixtures headlined by the resurgent Warriors.