The Super Rugby playoff picture is no clearer for the Chiefs, despite their thumping of the Reds in Brisbane on Friday night.
The Chiefs currently sit pretty at the top of the New Zealand Conference. Their performance in the 50-5 thumping of the Reds on Friday night was the final time the Chiefs will have anything easy for the remainder of Super Rugby. With their doubles, Seta Tamanivalu and Damian McKenzie have equaled Super Rugby’s top try scorers in 2016. McKenzie had another strong night with the boot, converting five of the Chiefs eight tries. On his return to Super Rugby, Liam Messam impressed in his 40-minutes of game time in the second half. The speed of the Chiefs replacements again added late impact to the game, and impact the Reds simply couldn’t match.
Up next is a familiar foe and a trip to Dunedin where Dave Rennie and his men won’t be welcome. A loss to the defending Super Rugby champion Highlanders could have a disastrous effect in terms of the playoffs picture.
Super Rugby: Chiefs Not Alone At The Top
The Highlanders have had the better of the Chiefs throughout the last couple of years. In 2015, Rennie’s men lost to the Highlanders on three separate occasions. The third loss was in a quarter final. Rennie would have hoped for better fortunes this year, but the Chiefs were again outplayed by the men from the deep south, this time losing 26-13 in Hamilton.
The Chiefs need to avoid a fifth successive loss to the Highlanders, but it’s not just as simple as winning. If all goes to plan, the Chiefs could end up playing the Highlanders in a quarterfinal. But unlike last year, home advantage would go to the Chiefs. That’s obviously the ideal scenario for Chiefs fans. The team itself cannot worry about the scenarios other kiwi sides have ahead of them. As it stands now, both the Highlanders and the Hurricanes could also finish on the top of the table.
Super Rugby Playoff Picture
Yes, that’s right, the final round of scheduled matches before the playoffs sees four kiwi sides vying for top spot and a home quarterfinal.
Should the Crusaders secure a bonus-point win over the Hurricanes, they would top the NZ Conference and snatch a home quarterfinal. The Hurricanes would have to beat the Crusaders with a bonus-point and rely on the Chiefs to get nothing from their game against the Highlanders to go to the top. The Highlanders would need to beat the Chiefs, secure a bonus-point, and have the Hurricanes beat the Crusaders but not get the extra point.
Make sense?
There is everything to play for given what fans were treated to during the past weekends action of rugby. All four kiwi teams in the playoff picture utterly dominated their opposition and all looked like champion-worthy sides. Once again, Super Rugby has become a story of the numbers. Two sides will go forward to the playoffs, the remaining two will look back at their respective seasons and wonder where the one result was lacking.
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