Chiefs left to rue goalkicker omission in shock opening loss
When Brad Weber lined up to take the Chiefs’ first goal kick attempt of the season on Friday, you knew it was going to be a long night for the Waikato men.
An unheard-of slew of injuries to the Chiefs’ first five stocks had thrown young Orbyn Leger into the starting ten jersey on Friday. A slight ankle injury prevented regular first-five Damian McKenzie from taking the field and the next cabs off the ranks, Tiaan Falcon, Jack Debreczeni and Marty McKenzie were also dealing with their own injury situations.
Leger, who has spent next to no time in the key playmaker role in his limited years of professional rugby, was brought in from outside of the main Chiefs squad during the pre-season and was tasked with guiding the team around the park. It was assumed that Leger would also handle the goal-kicking duties while on the field but evidently, this was one string to his bow that the young Counties product did not possess.
Instead, it was experienced halfback Weber who was entrusted with the challenging task of converting the Chief’s hard-earned penalties and tries into further points.
Weber took to the task like a cat to water. You would struggle to find less natural looking shots at goal than what crowds bore witness to on Friday night – thought admittedly he did convert two attempts and another hit the posts.
His worst attempt of the night came in the 50th minute of the game: from the sideline, Weber galloped towards the tee and unleashed a dismal kick that never threatened to come close to the posts – a kick which Weber chastised himself for as he ran past referee Glen Jackson.
Whilst the rest of Weber’s game was excellent, giving the tee to a player not especially known for their goalkicking was somewhat of a cruel move from Chief’s coach Colin Cooper. Prior to this past weekend’s match, Weber had taken only two shots at goal in his professional career – both for Hawke’s Bay in last year’s Mitre 10 Cup (though it’s worth noting that both these attempts were successful).
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Shaun Stevenson also offered himself up as a sacrifice in the Chiefs’ losing cause with the most misguided kick of the night – taking over from Weber for a long distance shot that was evidently outside the halfback’s range. Stevenson sprayed the ball comically wide and goalkicking duties were returned to Weber until Stephen Donald took the field for the Chiefs in the final quarter.
Of course, little fault lies with Weber and Stevenson – goalkicking is not part of their trade and they were simply stopgaps due to the fact that there were no other regular goalkickers on the field at the time.
Cooper, however, will be left ruing his decision to send out a team without a recognised goalkicker. Many mistakes were made by the Chiefs on the night – some more critical than others – but when you can predict before the game even starts that you’re unlikely to make many kicks on goal unless they’re relatively close to the posts and then you lose by a mere three points… Well, that would cause even the most resolute coaches to question their original decision.
In Cooper’s defence, he wasn’t left with very many options. He’d already lost the already mentioned quartet of players who met the three criteria he probably wanted from someone trusted with the 10 jersey: a strong combination with the other players, the ability to guide the team around the park, and dependable goalkicking.
Leger meets the former two of those requirements – and he performed reasonably well in his role, given he’s a ‘non-kicking first-five’ who has only limited experience at Super Rugby level and none in the 10 jersey. Although not originally selected in the Chiefs squad, Leger played both preseason matches for the Chiefs (however, he spent neither game at first-five) which gave him at least some knowledge of the team’s systems.
Donald, who has now notched up 105 matches for the Chiefs, took the field late in the game after only being called into the squad earlier in the week. Certainly, Donald is an experienced navigator and a competent goalkicker, but his exceptionally late inclusion in the squad (due to Falcon’s season-ending injury) meant that he was never going to start in the match against the Highlanders.
Indeed, coach Cooper was stuck between a rock and a hard place – and the almost farcical number of injuries to the Chiefs’ first-five stocks seriously hindered the Chiefs’ chances of success on Saturday.
Although the Waikato men almost escaped with a win, were it not for a poor last quarter, Cooper will no doubt be tossing around in his head the fact that seven points were left on the field due to errant goalkicking.
With Damian McKenzie likely to return from injury this weekend against the Brumbies, Cooper will hopefully not have any nightmares about missed kicks over the coming days.
Brumbies Scott Sio & Folau Fainga’a ahead of Chiefs clash:
Comments on RugbyPass
The best outside centre in the world at one point. He will be greatly missed.
2 Go to commentsYip his great for the big moments when needed as a safa really enjoy watching him
4 Go to commentsOne that will start to come up from now on is penalties for back pushes during kick chase scrambles. Very difficult to detect. In Croke Park if you replay the Hendy NH try, you will see Furbank push Porter in the back, who collides with Larmour knocking the ball across into Hendy’s path to dot down. A more significant example was in the RWC QTR final where Arendse pushes Fickou into two other French players for the ball to spill into Arendse’s path for him to gather and run in to score SAs first try. Not cheating if you are not caught and very difficult to spot but with kicking becoming so critical I feel its an area that will referreeed/TMO-ed more.
3 Go to commentsWhat a pathetic little twit Andy Goode is, as if we care what he thinks…..😂
114 Go to commentsFoxy has been a wonderful player for the Scarlets and Wales.
2 Go to commentsNika the Georgian is the best referee in the world at the moment. Luckily we will be spared the shite SH refs and Barnes will hopefully remain retired given how shite and embarrassing he was at the RWC.
3 Go to commentsThis is the most exciting game of the summer imo, as we really won’t know in advance how both teams are going to play. - Will Robertson just reproduce his Crusaders tactics from last year, or will there be a conscious effort to borrow from the Hurricanes and Blues, and from the aspects of the ABs world cup strategy that worked well? - England under Borthwick have put in some good performances playing attacking rugby, and some good performances playing kick-oriented defensive rugby. Will Borthwick try to merge them together into a single all-court game, or will he continue switching between different approaches depending on the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition?
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
9 Go to commentsFinals are always tense affairs for the players so I do not expect this to be a spectacle of running rugby unfortunately.
3 Go to commentsBulls***': Ex-England international calls out Eben Etzebeth… Not to his face but from very far away… after he’d left. Checked to make sure he wasn’t in the building.
114 Go to commentsHopefully this will mean a new Auckland league team to support in the west. Big Warriors fan but it’s very, very stale on that front and I’d like the option of another team if it was to watch league again. League needs to step up BIG time if its to get anywhere, another AK team and something from the capitol or south is a must for the game.
3 Go to commentsGood, deep interview, nice job Frankie!
1 Go to commentsNRL players don’t have anywhere near the number of Tests. Some people would be happy having Rest Homes full if 40 yo ex-players walking, or hobbling more like it, into walls. It’s just a game!
4 Go to commentsNOW Razor is worried about ABs getting injured or overplayed! Didn’t bother him last year. He happily played his AB Crusaders.
4 Go to commentsWhat is the World Rugby U20 players born year.
2 Go to commentsMuch like the Chiefs finally gave up waiting for Atu Moli to ever not be injured, you have to wonder if the Chiefs and Crusaders will let Josh Lord and Ethan Blackadder go next season. They’re being well paid to sit in the injury ward every year. Better off putting those funds towards someone who might actually play.
7 Go to commentsShowed better basic skills than some nz Super sides, who probably would have botched some of those backline moves. This tournament really is too short though. Needs more teams, or have them play two rounds to properly prepare them for the near full-time NH U20 sides.
4 Go to commentsGood grief it’s only six months. Probably just upset it’s not an established kiwi entering their prime they can “project” into green to join the rest.
3 Go to commentsGood player but far from being best in the world. That's an exaggeration. Perhaps Best in world by Northern Hemisphere standards and biasis but certainly not Southern Hemi standards
4 Go to comments