Quarter-final nail-biter can prove beneficial in Chiefs’ title push : PlanetRugby

Chiefs boss Clayton McMillan believes that their tense triumph over the Reds can benefit the team in the long run.

The Waikato outfit, having dominated the regular season and finished at the summit, were expected to swat aside Brad Thorn’s men.

Instead, the match turned into a real battle with the victory only sealed late on thanks to Pita Gus Sowakula’s try.

Next weekend’s opponents

The 29-20 win in Hamilton sealed their passage into the Super Rugby Pacific semi-finals where they will take on the Brumbies, who had a similarly tight encounter against the Hurricanes.

In comparison, the Crusaders and Blues enjoyed easy wins over Fijian Drua and Waratahs respectively.

“Everybody, including all of our fans, would have loved us to have run away with the game. But I reckon we’ll learn more from this,” McMillan told reporters.

“If we’d won by 20 points, I think our week might have looked a bit different… just probably mindset. This will just bring a bit of an edge, and a realness, around finals footy. Sometimes it’s not going to be pretty but you’ve just got to get the job done.

“For a whole number of reasons, being put under pressure today, I think will be really good for us in the run.”

The Chiefs were able to gain revenge on the Reds, who inflicted the side’s only defeat of the regular season.

At one stage, the Australians looked set to repeat that feat, but the hosts mustered a response as they advanced to the last-four.

“(It was) exactly what we expected,” McMillan said.

“I think they’re a better team than what the points table has shown. And for whatever reason, when they play us they seem to grow another leg, or just the way they play makes it a real grind.

“But really proud of that last 15 minutes where we went down, got direct, we were able to build phase counts, were able to score points when it mattered. And we won the game, and that’s all that matters.”

Kicking battle

McMillan’s men arguably got sucked into the Reds’ game plan with the Queenslanders looking to kick the leather off the ball.

There were a staggering 91 kicks in total and the New Zealand outfit admitted they needed to keep the ball in hand a bit more.

“That’s astronomical,” Chiefs’ head coach added. “They obviously came with a clear plan. And it wasn’t like we were losing the kick tennis battle, but we probably just needed to hold onto the ball a little bit more and then force them to start making some tackles and put them under a little bit of pressure.”

READ MORE: Super Rugby Pacific semi-final dates and times confirmed