The clinical Chiefs have dispatched Moana Pasifika 43-7 at Auckland's Go Media Stadium for their third straight Super Rugby Pacific win and third place on the competition table - for now.
Ahead only 12-0 at halftime against a team reduced to 13 men, the Hamilton-based side found another gear in the second half, scored seconds after the restart and never taking their foot off the accelerator.
Even with several All Blacks injured or rested, the Chiefs showed their depth of talent, while their rivals suffered another blow to their playoff hopes, stalled outside the top eight, after three consecutive defeats.
Moana Pasifika were rocked with late changes that didn't help their continuity. They started strongly enough, retaining possession for two minutes after kickoff, but they could take no advantage from their efforts.
Given their chance, the visitors were immediately on the attack from a series of penalties, before they were held up over the tryline. No.8 Wallace Sititi squandered a five-metre scrum opportunity with a knockon, while Anton Leinert-Brown's chargedown was forced for a dropout.
Neither side could gain any ascendancy, until first-five Josh Lacomb put a tricky kick into the 22, recovered by hooker Samisoni Taukei'aho, who powered a few metres, before the ball was released for centre Quinn Tupaea to score the opening try.
Moana lost replacement flanker Irie Papuni to a yellow card for making head contact with Chiefs prop Ollie Norris and were then reduced to 13, when halfback Aisea Halo kicked the ball from the hands of counterpart Xavier Roe.
From the subsequent scrum, Jacomb was first receiver and cut back against the defence to score.
Despite their two-man deficit, the home team went back on attack and fullback Kyren Taumoefolau dived at the corner flag, losing the ball in the process.
With halftime looming, Chiefs winger Liam Coombes-Fabling was over for a try, but ruled out for a knockon in the build-up.
Leading 12-0 at the break, they needed only a few seconds to add to their advantage, when fullback Etene Nanai-Seturo chipped over the defence and regathered to score.
Desperate for some points - any points - Moana opted for a penalty shot at goal, but first-five D'Angelo Leuila drifted it wide right.
At the other end, the Chiefs strung together 22 phases under advantage, before Lienert-Brown put through a speculator and was on hand to take the final pass from lock Tupou Vaa'i for the try.
Flanker Simon Parker sliced through an ineffectual defensive line to score.
The Pacific Islanders continued to throw themselves at the Chiefs and twice turned the ball over within metres of the tryline.
Eventually, a surging run from Papuni set up a try for replacement Anzelo Tuitavuki, but Chiefs captain Luke Jacobson was eventually awarded one, after burrowing across under a pile of bodies.
As the final seconds ticked down, the visitors had one more try up their sleeve, running a set move off a scrum, with Lienert-Brown taking a half-gap and offloading to Coombes-Fabling, who would not be denied this time.
"It was probably a little bit shaky at halftime," admitted Jacobson. "I think we just expected things to happen, and once we got into some good work, and got into some carry and cleans, things started to fall into place.
"Our forward pack got the finger pointed at them a bit [at halftime]. We were probably a little bit passive and we were getting dominated... Moana were bringing a lot of physicality to the collisions, so we needed to make a big shift there."
The bonus-point win sees the Chiefs leapfrog ACT Brumbies into third on the competition table, but the top Aussies visit NSW Waratahs on Saturday.
The Hamiltonians visit Melbourne to face the Rebels next Friday, while Moana Pasifika visit the capital to take on the tabletopping Hurricanes.
Chiefs 43 (Tupaea, Jacomb, Nanai-Seturo, Lienert-Brown, Parker, Jacobson, Coombes-Fabling tries; Jacomb 4 conversions) Moana Pasifika 7 (Tuitavuki try; Leuila conversion)
