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Try-scoring blitz sets up Chiefs' Super Round win
By AAP
Moana Pasifika got off to the worst possible start and things did not improve much from there as the Chiefs romped to a 52-29 victory in their Super Round rugby clash in Melbourne.
Chiefs centre Rameka Poihipi broke a 22-year-old record to score the fastest try in Super Rugby history, crossing after just eight seconds at AAMI Park.
Poihipi intercepted the first pass after the kick-off, thrown infield by Moana Pasifika winger Anzelo Tuitavuki, and the Chiefs were up 7-0 before the clock had ticked over to two minutes.
Highlanders lock Vula Maimuri held the previous record of 12 seconds, scored against the Crusaders in Christchurch back in 2001.
The Chiefs proved their 31-10 round-one win over the reigning champion Crusaders was no fluke, running in six unanswered tries in the first half to set up the victory.
The spoils were shared across five players, with halfback Brad Weber grabbing a double.
Star five-eighth Damian McKenzie, who spent last year playing in Japan, crossed in the 37th minute while he also added four conversions en route to a 38-3 halftime lead.
To Moana Pasifika's credit they did not shirk the hard work in the second half, and with former Brumbies and Wallabies playmaker Christian Leali'ifano running the attack they were rewarded with four tries for a more respectable scoreline.
While their missed tackle tally had proved costly, they reined that right in to limit the Chiefs to just additional two tries, both scored by fullback Shaun Stevenson.
The only concern for the Waikato-based Chiefs was their discipline, incurring 13 penalties while three players were yellow-carded.
Moana Pasifika are winless after two rounds, having fallen to Fijian Drua by two points in the opening match.
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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