Waikato Chiefs fans celebrate their team’s back to back Super 12 success Photo: KLIM ANDREEV
New Zealand’s Waikato Chiefs took out the Super Rugby title 27-22 against the ACT Brumbies in Hamilton on Saturday. It was a highly entertaining affair that had the local crowd nervous for a large part of the game before their team proved too strong for the ACT side.
It was the Brumbies that got the upper hand early on in the game with Christian Lealiifano getting the score out to 9-0 with his boot. It was some ill disciplined defence by the home team that helped give them the lead but that was quickly rubbed out by the boot of the Chiefs kicker Aaron Cruden to level the score at 9-9.
The game was very entertaining and saw both sides playing open, attacking rugby. With only one minute to half time, a loose Chiefs pass saw Lealiifano pounce with a skilful pick up and race away to score the game’s first try which he converted for a half time lead of 16 points to 9.
The second half started with the Brumbies stretching out their lead 19-9 but a Cruden penalty minutes later reduced the score to 19-12. Things continued to see-saw on the field and the score board with the Brumbies going back out to a 22-12 lead thanks to another penalty conversion.
The home crowd was eerily silenced by the visitors’ unexpected lead but some relentless attacking play saw Liam Messam break out of a scrum 5 metres from the Brumbies line to register the Chiefs’ first try in the 64th minute to make it 22-17. The Chiefs’ momentum was urged on by a very vocal home crowd, and a gap in the Brumbies defence gave Robbie Robinson the chance to give his side the lead on 68 minutes with Cruden’s conversion making it 27-22.
With 30,000km of travel over the past week finally catching up on the tired looking Brumbies, as well as some solid defence by the home side, the Chiefs ran out eventual winners making it back to back titles for the team from Hamilton. But the Brumbies can hold their heads up high for their valiant effort, which they will surely build on next season.
Waikato Chiefs 27 (Messam 64′ Robinson 68′, Cruden 1/2) Pen(Cruden 5/7)
ACT Brumbies 22 (Lealiifano 39′, 1/1) Pen (Lealiifano 5/5)
Crowd: 25,112
