Sky Super Rugby Aotearoa: Highlanders stun Chiefs with incredible comeback

Highlanders 39
Heads 23

The Chiefs and their fans may be wondering when their streak of horror at Super Rugby Aotearoa will end after they blew a healthy lead against the Highlanders at Waikato Stadium tonight to fall to their 10th straight loss.

There were few signs of rust in the first half despite the Chiefs taking a break last weekend in the first round, but after reaching a 20-11 lead and impressing with their skill, composure and discipline, they collided with a family ending. They have yet to win a match in the competition after losing their eight SRA matches in 2020.

With forwards Sam Cane and Luke Jacobson on the rise and outside backs Etene Nanai-Seturo and Damian McKenzie dangers ever present, the Chiefs were the only team in the first half, a dominating performance that owes a lot to the Highlanders’ bad. discipline.

New coach Clayton McMillan, in charge while Warren Gatland is out with the British and Irish Lions, may have felt he was in possession of a golden touch. Instead, the game, which made history with the recommendation of a successful first captain by Highlanders co-captain Aaron Smith, was turned upside down, and the Highlanders won with a bonus point.

Tony Brown’s men, who lost a relatively close one to the Crusaders in Dunedin last weekend, lost midfielder Sio Tomkinson and hooker Ash Dixon to yellow cards in the first 40 and were in deep trouble at 20-6 against. after attempts by Jacobson and McKenzie.

The Chiefs looked likely again once Dixon left the field, but instead Highlanders wing Jona Nareki benefited from a Bryn Gatland kick and ran home from 90 yards to allow the visitors to grab the game. by fingernails.

Nareki, the jet-heeled left wing, turned out to be a significant figure in his team’s remarkable comeback because, once midfielder Folau Fakatava scored for the posts after halftime to ignite it, the little number 11 fanned the flames by running to through Cane and Brad Weber set Shannon Frizell up for a long-range try and then scored one himself after a bad fall from Gatland in front of his posts that earned a wry look from Coach McMillan.

With All Blacks running back Smith increasing speed and intensity significantly once he replaced Fakatava, Nareki was back in the left corner to quench any hope of a rebound from the Chiefs.

He was virtually unstoppable after the break, and with Frizell and his fellow Highlanders greats beginning to exercise dominance, the Chiefs, perhaps feeling the rush in terms of conditioning, were well beaten.

Nanai-Seturo finished for the Chiefs with just under four minutes to go, but, before he could be referred by referee Paul Williams and his fellow officials, the challenge from Smith’s captain over possible foul play by the Chiefs blurted out. forward Mitchell Brown in the first five minutes Josh Ioane (Brown led with an elbow), was confirmed and the possible attempt immediately ruled out.

The Highlanders hold the record for the worst losing streak in New Zealand Super Rugby history with 11 losses in 2012/2013, but the Chiefs are fast approaching that and to make matters worse they must face the defending champion Crusaders in Christchurch. next weekend.

Highlanders 39 (Jonah Nareki 3, Sail Fakatava, Shannon Frizell tries; Josh John 4 cons, 2 pens)
Heads 23 (Luke Jacobson, Damian McKenzie tries; McKenzie 2 cons, 3 pens)
Halftime: 11-20