Chiefs coach Clayton McMillan says his team’s guaranteed place in Super Rugby Pacific’s semifinals next weekend played no part in their shock qualifier loss to the Blues last night.
As the competition’s top seeds, the Chiefs could not fail to progress under the competition’s new “lucky loser” concept, but McMillan said that did not factor into his team’s thinking.
"No, not at all,'' he said after his team’s 20-19 defeat. "We wanted to win this game and put the Blues to be bed, because, you know, wins like this will just fuel more confidence.
"It's always what is directly in front of us. I think we have been pretty consistent with that, and our preparation, the effort we put in tonight was reflective of a team that really wanted to win.''
The Chiefs, who lost loose forward Luke Jacobson to a pre-existing shoulder injury the day before the game, had most of the other advantages at Waikato Stadium.
Blues hooker Ricky Riccitelli was yellow carded in the first half for a foot trip on Damian McKenzie, and the Chiefs enjoyed a wealth of possession and territory in running up a 19-6 lead.
However, their lineout began malfunctioning in the second half along with their disciplinary record.
With halfback Cortez Ratima one of several players to lose the ball near or over the line, the mistakes came back to haunt the Chiefs.
"That's good old fashioned finals grind, you know?" McMillan said.
"And probably in the last 15, 20 minutes, we struggled to exit probably off the back of a misfiring lineout. A few discipline issues, especially in the last little bit.
“We always respect the Blues. They haven’t always been at their best [this season] but you always had the sense that they would do enough to get in the top six.”
Not surprisingly, the Blues celebrated wildly after Beauden Barrett’s conversion of Josh Beehre’s late try sealed the victory, but head coach Vern Cotter and skipper Patrick Tuipulotu appeared relatively downbeat when facing the media afterwards.
“There’s a lot of satisfaction but it’s tempered by the fact that it’s just one game and there’s another one next week,” Cotter said, before adding: “I think our defence showed the team hasn’t lost faith in what we’re doing.”
The Blues, beaten in the grand final by the Crusaders in 2022, went close against the red and blacks in Christchurch in April and know how difficult it will be on Friday.
“The Crusaders are a tough team. We know it’s going to be tough to win down there… we’ve got to be on top of our game," Cotter said. "It may come down to the 85th minute again next week.”
The Crusaders’ 32-12 qualifier victory over the Reds last Friday means they are now 30-0 in home playoff matches.
“One day they will lose down there in a playoff,” Tuipulotu said. “Could it be us? We’ll certainly be pushing as hard as we can.
“I’m looking forward to it. What better way of making our way to the final.”
The Chiefs will host the Brumbies in the other semifinal on Saturday night after the men from Canberra beat the Hurricanes 35-28 in their qualifying final.
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