Clayton McMillan's bizarre strategy that motivated the Chiefs

After the Chiefs’ disappointing defeat in round twelve of the competition against the Hurricanes in Wellington, Chiefs head coach Clayton McMillan had an interesting strategy in making sure this sort of performance didn’t happen again.

McMillan admitted after their important victory on Saturday that last week against the Hurricanes they got ‘beaten up’ in Wellington, and there was discussion during the week about not letting that performance be something to regret come the end of the season.

The review clearly worked, as they scored 32 unanswered points to beat the Crusaders at Apollo Projects Stadium in Christchurch.

Talking to Jason Pine on Newstalk ZB’s Weekend Sport, Chiefs midfielder Quinn Tupaea said that after their loss against the Hurricanes, Clayton McMillan turned off their speaker in the changing room.

“We sat in the change rooms after the Hurricanes game and listened to them sing their song next door, Clayton turned our speaker off, and we all sat there and listened to it, and it sort of fueled us for this week,” Tupaea said.

“We had a tough review on Monday and two tough trainings on Tuesday and Thursday, which I guess prepared us well for this weekend.”

The 26-year-old midfielder was pleased to have World Breakthrough Men’s 15’s Player of the Year in 2024, Wallace Sititi, back in the starting lineup, which gave the Chiefs a boost in Christchurch.

“Yeah, it’s massive. That kid can play; he just brings the extra punch to the forward pack that we need, and it’s been a great battle in our loose forwards, with Samipeni (Finau) and Simon (Parker) playing well, as well as Luke Jacobson, our skipper.

“I guess any and those guys that come off the bench also bring that extra punch that we need.”

Tupaea told Pine that when the Chiefs were down 19-3, the game plan needed to be slightly adjusted.

“I guess we just needed to break them down a bit, we weren’t finding too much go forward on the edges. So they’re a team that fills the field pretty well and can defend for long sets.

“So we decided to have a crack at going through them, and I guess we got some good reward for that. We were pretty stoked to score there before halftime.”

Heading into the bye, the Chiefs sit top of the Super Rugby Pacific table with 41 points, two points ahead of the Brumbies and four points in front of the Crusaders.

Tupaea believes the six-week period since their last bye has been challenging for the Chiefs, but knows the week off is important to refresh the bodies.

“Yeah, it’s been a big six-week block for us since our last bye. So it’s about refreshing for us, a lot of our guys played at big minutes, and the week will look different for everyone.

“It’ll contain a little bit of training, but just mainly, refreshing and getting our bodies right for those two games and then a finals push.”

The Chiefs take on Moana Pasifika at FMG Stadium Waikato in Hamilton next week after the bye, before finishing the regular season off, away at the Highlanders in Dunedin.