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Bye bye Chiefs, thanks for coming

Quinn Tupaea of the Chiefs offloads during the round six Super Rugby match between ACT Brumbies and Chiefs at GIO Stadium, on March 20, 2026, in Canberra, Australia. (Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images)
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13 Comments

Is it too early to write off the Chiefs after a catastrophic collapse in Canberra to the Brumbies? The perennial chokers who have come up short in three straight finals?

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After leading by 24-7 when Damian McKenzie strolled over to finish a team effort the game looked dead and buried, only for the Brums to get back on the horse and storm home in the final quarter.

A fairly controversial try to halfback Ryan Lonergan sparked the rally giving the home side hope, before breakout revelation Charlie Cale crashed over, Declan Meredith caught them napping and then speedster Cory Toole put the dagger in the Chiefs’ back with an intercept try with two minutes remaining.

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This is the second meltdown in the opening five rounds from the Chiefs. After leading at home to the Crusaders by 21-7, they were run down by a Taha Kemara-inspired comeback and ended up losing 43-31.

Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.

The Chiefs are not short of talent. They’ve got All Blacks all over the park, particularly up front where they boast of a lock factory and a loosie contingent that many would be envious of. Newly capped All Black Simon Parker, Samipeni Finau, Luke Jacobson, Wallace Sititi.

They’ve got the most dangerous outside backs in the competition, Emoni Narawa, Leroy Carter and the new recruit Kyren Taumoefolau, lured away from Moana Pasifika. Where was Taumoefolau against the Brumbies? Why would you sign one of the competition’s breakout stars just to sit him out of the 23 every week?

The rude truth is that the Chiefs have become soft. The Mana is gone. Nothing screams a marsh mellow defence like the Brumbies first try, a simple crash right up the middle off a scrum and scoring two phases later in front of an open line. The forwards were lazy inside 10 minutes.

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They are addicted to champagne rugby, and while they are scoring some outrageous tries, the gritty defensive attitude is gone. They are so passive they are prone to getting run over.

So Josh Lord can gallop down the field and carry the ball in one hand, but can he dominate up front and crush ball carriers behind the gain line 10 times a game? Because ultimately that’s what the All Blacks need him to do.

It might be that the Chiefs didn’t understand the assignment. The Brumbies are equal to the Chiefs in attacking ability. They are the second best attacking side in the competition, with two outstanding ball carriers in the back row in Rob Valetini and Charlie Cale. If they get inside the five, they have power to capitalise.

The Chiefs’ Achilles heel has been discipline and turnovers conceded. They ranked near the bottom with 10.8 penalties a game, 8th-worst in the competition. They tackled at 90 per cent against the Brumbies, only missing 17 tackles, but conceded from close range four times and had the 100m intercept.

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After their 26-0 win over the Hurricanes in pre-season, the fans wanted to crown them champs again. While the Hurricanes rested Du’Plessis Kirifi, Cam Roigard, Peter Lakai, Billy Proctor, the Chiefs rolled out nearly all their big guns. They beat up the Canes’ third stringers in the second half and wanted the Super Rugby Pacific trophy then and there.

Well, it’s lucky we didn’t give it to them.

The Chiefs were not convincing in their 2-0 start, beating the Blues by two points and the Highlanders by three. At the time it seemed like they were doing what good teams do, which is win when not playing well. Now it looks like this is really who they are. Bang average.

They are well and truly the most overrated team in the competition. They could be 1-4 right now and for their sake, thankfully they escaped losses in those first two rounds.

All they’ve done is beat up the worst team in the competition and they are privileged enough to play them twice. They will massage their schedule to get into the top six. There are too many All Blacks on that roster to miss out on the playoffs.

But can we really say the Chiefs are truly contenders anymore? It certainly doesn’t feel like it.

Chiefs, the title window is closing.

 

 

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13 Comments
B
BH 43 days ago

Meh they were one pass away from beating the best of the Australian teams on their home ground. Brumbies scored a couple of fluke tries but to their credit they took their chances most times they were in the red zone and performed very well in the 2nd half.


Critics and haters were dissing the Chiefs for the past few years for peaking too early in the season, but now that they’ve lost two games this year, they’re hating them for losing? Some of you rugby writers and fans sure are weird.


Is the only logical conclusion you can draw from that is that most people are biased against the Chiefs? Is it because they’re the small town boys that beat the big city teams on a regular basis? Or because they won two titles in a row back when you were younger and you’re still butt hurt about it?


If you want to prove that you’re not biased, let’s see some articles about the current season so far, including: how terrible the Crusaders’ discipline is; the Hurricanes having an easy start to the season against lacklustre teams; the Highlanders poor performances in the last few weeks; or the Blues choking against the Chiefs and Brumbies.

T
TJ 44 days ago

Are knock downs allowed now. The Chiefs looked certain to score early however the Brumbies fullback clearly knocked down a certain try and nothing was done except a knock on.

G
GM 44 days ago

The Chiefs have a surfeit of talent in some areas - second and back rows, for instance - but are a bit lacking in the front row, for instance, where the Crusaders really served it up to them last year. Also, if QT or DMac suffer injuries, they would struggle. By comparison, the Canes seem to have real depth and options across the park, and are not going to be bagged by a poor scrum come winter.

J
JW 44 days ago

I think the Chiefs have been over rated for a few years now, sure they were probably better than the Saders for a lot of it but they have typified the All Blacks problem of looking one dimensional without Dmac on the park.


I think the author has his own hype to blame for his outlook at the moment. In reality they still dominated that game and are on par to be in the Final again, of course the Hurricanes are a team running to predictions and will no doubt take this one out.

B
B 44 days ago

Chiefs are gone burger much like the 3 day SRPacific One Stadium Round 11 tickets…

Anywho… my pick to win the 2026 SRPacific trophy…”Hurricanes”…

J
John Breslin 44 days ago

57-0, Ben!


Never forget!

S
SB 45 days ago

It’s still too early, Ben Smith always tries to make big claims but everyone just laughs at him.


However, I do think the Chiefs are no where near their level as what they were last year. When they destroyed MP their attack looked sensational and it has not this year. Granted McKenzie has only been back for a few games so we’ll see how much it improves.


So Josh Lord can gallop down the field and carry the ball in one hand, but can he dominate up front and crush ball carriers behind the gain line 10 times a game? Because ultimately that’s what the All Blacks need him to do.

Well no not really, if you have Ardie Savea and Wallace Sititi or Peter Lakai doing those things. Lord is clearly talented in the wider channels, utilising the skillset of your players is important instead of asking them to do things that aren’t neccesarily their strengths.


I think it will be tough for the Chiefs to win it this year, getting to a final 4 times in a row is incredibly difficult and it’s largely the same players who have experienced the emotions of failure at the final hurdle.

R
Rick Clark 45 days ago

How many games does Dmac need to get back to his best a veteran AB should be better than this. Totally outclassed by the Aussies, Shame!

At least they will shake the choker label perhaps the perennial runners up team are the has beens that couldn’t now.

I
Icefarrow 45 days ago

What a melodramatic article. Not even half the season has been, and they’re still in the top 6.


They have a new coach, there will be growing pains as he embeds new systems. McMillan had five years, Gibbes hasn't even had half of one. Players have been in and out, meaning coherence isn’t all there yet. Too early to judge anything until around round ten, when the finalists become clear.


Kyren has underdelivered, and you pick on form. Players like Carter, Return, Narawa etc are all simply better than him. He’s not at Moana anymore, he wants to make the All Blacks. He is now learning how much harder it is to earn your spot in a top team, and the importance of delivering to keep it.

J
JS 44 days ago

Carter is a ‘dumb’ wing at 15’s test level. I dont say this lightly but he attacks space / views space through a 7’s brain. Too often allows himself to be bundled into touch OR dies with the ball.

M
Massive 44 days ago

So enjoy seeing them lose….

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