'We showed nothing': Chiefs have far more in store for Crusaders in playoffs

Touted as game-of-the-season potential in the lead-up, Saturday night’s Super Rugby Pacific showdown certainly lived up to its billing, as two of the competition heavyweights duked it out in a topsy-turvy encounter in front of a vehement 23,000-plus sellout crowd at FMG Stadium Waikato.

Coming home strong after some third-quarter wobbles, the Chiefs prevailed 34-24 to not only extend their perfect start to the season to nine wins – equalling the club’s all-time longest win streak from their maiden title-winning campaign in 2012 – but inflict another psychological dent in the six-time defending champs, following that 31-10 triumph in the season-opener in Christchurch.

Under the watch of Scott Robertson, the Crusaders, in seven seasons, have lost just 15 games, though it’s the Chiefs who have proved constant trouble, responsible for six of those defeats (more than double any other side), and McMillan has now forged a 50% win rate against them that any other coach would kill for.

“We know that we’ve got some tools in our arsenal that, when we get it right, it’s challenging for them.”

Asked if it had been somewhat easier this year to be motivated for, or to have analysed deeper, the Crusaders, following playoff losses to them each of the last two seasons, McMillan paused before candidly answering.

“I think they did everything that we anticipated that they were going to do tonight,” he said.

“We knew they were going to go to a contestable game, we knew they were going to put some pressure on Damian, hit us hard in narrow channels, try and assert some dominance through their maul, scrum penalties. That’s their game, and I reckon they brought it out tonight, and for large parts we dealt with that pretty well.”

Yet, now with the real potential for the teams to again square off in June, there was an overwhelming sense McMillan was not only satisfied with what his side showed on the park in this latest clash against their storied rivals, but was just as much buoyed by how much they left in the cupboard, too.

“The exciting thing for me is that we showed nothing,” he said of a victory built on “grit and determination”, where the Chiefs operated with just 37% possession and 42% territory, and made 174 tackles to 82, while missing just 17 to 16.

“I think we had a whole menu of strikes, and didn’t do any of them, we sort of fed off a bit of scraps.

“So in some respects we’ve kept our powder dry.

“To win this competition we’ve always got to keep in the back of our mind that we might have to play them three times.”

Significantly, that potential third meeting would in all likelihood be back in Hamilton, with the Chiefs now looking at very short odds to seal top seeding, and home comforts throughout the playoffs.

With five regular season games remaining – the next against the Highlanders in Dunedin on Friday night – they have now moved eight points clear of the Brumbies, with the Blues, Hurricanes and Crusaders nine, 10 and 12 back, respectively.

“It gives us a little bit of breathing space, and breathing space counts for a lot of things,” McMillan said. “We’re going to have to give our All Blacks another break between now and quarterfinal time, what games you choose to do that becomes a little bit easier.”

Co-captain Sam Cane said the team were easily grounded by the mindset that their efforts to date won’t count for anything unless they can go all the way. But he, more than most, knows the value of a home playoff, after seeing the ground sold out for a Chiefs game for what must have been the first time since the 2013 final which he featured in.

“I got asked about it by Kirstie [Stanway, from Sky TV] out on the field, and far out, I didn’t see it coming, but I almost got a bit emotional just talking about the amount of people that came out to support us,” he said.

“You just don’t take it for granted, because it shows they believe in what we’re doing, and I suppose in a way we’ve earned their trust, and their respect and belief that they want to come out and support us.

“So we thank them... it makes a difference, it’s awesome.”