Chiefs Continue Reds Woes

The Chiefs have condemned the Queensland Reds to their fourth straight loss to start the Tooheys New Super 14 season with a comfortable 35-17 victory tonight at Waikato Stadium.

Queensland found themselves in all sorts of trouble when trailing 15-0 after only 15 minutes and although they did stage a fight back late in the first half the Chiefs backs came out on fire in the second stanza to quickly take away any hopes the Reds had of winning their first game of the season.

“To get four tries tonight is very pleasing,” said Chiefs captain Jono Gibbes.

“We still haven’t quite got it all together for 80 minutes, but more and more of our game is coming and our back three showed how much potential they have.”

Things went wrong for the Reds right from the get go as they failed to catch the kick off and from there on out they were under constant pressure for the first 20 minutes of the game.

Chiefs fly half Stephen Donald put the home side in front after five minutes with a penalty goal courtesy of some silly infringements from the Reds forward pack and that lead quickly fluctuated when a sensational passing movement from the Chiefs backline saw Sosene Anesi charge down the left hand flank and dive over just inside the corner post for the opening try of the game.

Donald made the sideline conversion look easy to put his side ahead 10-0 after just 10 minutes.

Gibbes, playing in his 50th Super 14 game, turned down the opportunity for three points when the Reds gave away another penalty near the posts and his confidence in his team paid dividends when second rower Stephen Bates crashed over the try line from the ensuing lineout drive.

Donald was not able to replicate his first conversion attempt leaving the Chiefs with a 15-0 lead through 15 minutes of play.

Queensland finally got themselves on the scoreboard in the 25th minute when fly half Elton Flatley landed a long range penalty goal and that started a mini resurgence for the Reds with winger Drew Mitchell producing some individual brilliance by tip toeing his way down the sideline before muscling his way past the cover defence to score in the right hand corner.

Flatley, a 90% goal kicker so far this season, drilled the ball over the black dot and suddenly the visitors were behind by just five points after 28 minutes (15-10).

Donald stopped the bleeding for the Chiefs in the 32nd minute with his second penalty goal of the match and the Waikato based side could have been further ahead at the main break if not for some sloppy handling just before half time.

The Reds were lucky not to be further behind shortly into the second half when Donald dropped the ball over the line after a stunning backline raid from the Chiefs, but his error was quickly made up for by winger Sitiveni Sivivatu who scored easily in the 47th minute after some great lead up work from the forwards broke the Queensland defence open yet again.

Donald made no mistake with the simple conversion attempt and only moments later he extended the Chiefs advantage even further with his third penalty goal of the game (28-10).

Replacement winger Loki Crichton capped off a great night for the home side finishing off a nice passage of play from the back line with a chip and regather to score their fourth try of the match, which saw them gain a valuable bonus point.

Caleb Brown made an immediate impact off the Queensland bench helping to put a little bit of respectability back into the score line in the 70th minute when he scooted over adjacent to the posts.

The last 10 minutes saw the Reds attacking whole heartedly in an effort to gain an unlikely bonus point, but for all their effort nothing was forthcoming as the Chiefs defence held them at bay to record a convincing 18 point win.

Queensland will have their best chance to register their first victory of the season next Saturday night when they take on the last placed Western Force at Suncorp Stadium, while the Chiefs will welcome the Canterbury Crusaders to Waikato on Friday night.

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