The Chiefs from Waikato are still unbeaten after a month of Super Rugby so far following their easy win in front of home supporters v Melbourne Rebels this afternoon at FMG Stadium. Rebels may have the early headstart but the Chiefs snatched the lead baton off them with a few tries & three-point goals ahead of HT, 27-15. Now the Rebels did make up some lost time later on, but then the Chiefs’ have extended their winning margin by 2/3rds of the game in which was a tall order for them. The final score was 44-25.
It’s not been the afternoon the Rebels wanted to see out against the unbeaten Super Rugby side right now (Chiefs) following their win last week v NSW Waratahs at home (AAMI Park in Melbourne). They actually fired off really well with the three-point penalty goal followed by their first TRY of the afternoon thanks to Alex Mafi (No.2 at hooker). They were not bad defensively nor in attack, having seen them score a few tries throughout the afternoon. However, they just couldn’t scare off a frightening Chiefs attack when a mix of inconsistency such as these lost penalties/turnovers & handling errors really hurt the Rebels in the end. Let’s see if their NZ lessons can really inspire them to beat another established Australian SR side like the Reds at home next Saturday.
And congratulations to the Chiefs who are still unbeaten after four weeks so far of 15 into the 2023 Super Rugby Season. Now they may have fell behind earlier on, but the Chiefs responded well to the Rebels early headstart with three tries & two three-point goals throughout the opening 40. Then they continued to build their strong first-half show by staying ahead with another 2-3 tries as the games goes on, before the Chiefs got away with an easy win by full-time. How good was that considering their attacking & conversion play was top-notch, having controlled the Rebels end for the majority before they stamped up so many big scores here & there which was too easy. They got the Tahs next up ahead of their next game at Allianz Stadium (Sydney) on Friday night.
