All Blacks winger Emoni Narawa has scored a try double, as the Chiefs advanced their Super Rugby Pacific playoff claims with a 38-22 win over NSW Waratahs at Sydney.
After missing last year's Rugby World Cup with a back injury and making a late start to this season, Narawa is starting to return to form, showing his pace for a pair of cornerflag efforts, taking full advantage of his forwards' increasing dominance, as the contest wore on.
The result sees the Chiefs leapfrog Melbourne Rebels and ACT Brumbies into an all-NZ top three on the competition table, behind the Hurricanes and Blues.
In the opening minutes, flanker Samipeni Finau issues a statement of intent for the Chiefs, when he flattened Waratahs first-five Tane Edmed with a crushing tackle that seemed a little late and all shoulder, but managed to escape any punishment.
Moments later, they lost winger Etene Nanai-Seturo to a yellow card for head contact in a tackle. The Waratahs enjoyed the early territory advantage and eventually scored from an attacking lineout, when hooker Julian Heaven sprinted over from the back of the maul.
The visitors did not help themselves with persistent infringing in their own half and just as they regained their winger, they lost lock Tupou Vaa'i at another attacking lineout maul. The subsequent penalty and lineout saw Waratahs halfback Jake Gordon scamper across in the corner.
Finally, the Chiefs had the ball and fullback Shaun Stevenson shrugged off Edmed's tackle to sprint away for their opening try, but tweaked a hamstring in the process and limped off.
Restored to their full contingent, they began to impose some pressure inside the Waratahs 22, patiently persevering with their scrum to wear down their opponents. Eventually, they freed the ball to the backs, with first-five Damian McKenzie throwing a long pass for Narawa to dive over in the corner.
Deadlocked 12-12 at halftime, the Chiefs roared onto attack from the restart, when replacement fullback Quinn Tupaea collected a bouncing kick ahead and entered the 22, but they were initially turned back.
From an attacking lineout, they quickly released the ball and put Narawa into space for his second try.
Edmed reduced the deficit with a penalty, but from the kickoff and a return kick, Finau offloaded to halfback Cortez Ratima, who danced through a couple of would-be tacklers to score.
By now, all the momentum was with the Chiefs and No.8 Wallace Setiti burst off the back of an attacking scrum to continue the avalanche of points.
The Waratahs weren't done and threatened again, when Izzy Perese burst down the sideline and kicked ahead, with McKenzie barely deflecting the bounce into touch. From the lineout, they assaulted the Chiefs tryline and flanker Lachie Swinton took the ball at pace to score.
When Nanai-Seturo took an offload from midfielder Anton Lienert-Brown, Chiefs captain Kalum Boshier was on hand to scoop up a loose ball and score to secure the bonus point.
"Not the ideal start for us," reflected Boshier. "Our discipline let us down, but I'm proud of how we stuck at it and ground our way back into the game.
"We know the Waratahs had a physical pack and if you don't win the physical battle against them, you'll probably be on the wrong end of the scoreboard. All week we focused on that and we made a big shift there."
The outcome also keeps the Crusaders in ninth, one point out of the quarter-final reckoning, after their second win of the season.
The Chiefs are well placed to build on this performance, when they host bottom-of-the-table Western Force next Saturday.
Chiefs 38 (Narawa 2, Stevenson, Ratima, Setiti & Boshier tries; McKenzie 4 conversions) NSW Waratahs 22 (Heaven, Gordon & Swinton tries; Edmed conversion & penalty, Harrison conversion)
