Clinical Chiefs too good for Brumbies

• Published date: 29 May 2023

The leaders were flawless in defence when it mattered and ruthlessly punished the Brumbies in attack, earning a 12th victory from 13 games this Super Rugby season

The path to the title will now run through Hamilton and, considering they’ve now beaten all their fellow contenders, that may well be where the trophy is headed.

The trip to Canberra on Saturday was the final test and it shaped as a stern examination given the Brumbies had won three of their last four meetings between the sides.

The Chiefs’ sole loss this season came against Australian opposition — stunned by the Reds earlier in the month — but Clayton McMillan’s side controlled this contest almost throughout to win 31-21.

Their All Blacks hopefuls all fired: an electric Emoni Narawa set up Shaun Stevenson for his 11th try of the season; Damian McKenzie still made his presence felt in a rare start at fullback; and Luke Jacobson was immense on both sides of the ball.

All the individual performances added up to a collective effort that ensured the Chiefs could rest up ahead of the quarter-finals, with next weekend’s trip to the Force the final tuneup before the playoffs.

There wouldn’t be all that much tuning required based on Saturday’s display, as the Chiefs steadily built their lead in a manner that reflected the small but significant gap between good sides and great.

While little separated the teams during general play, the key difference — and what would prove decisive — was the Chiefs’ competition-leading defence standing tall while their opponents were guilty of faltering at the wrong moment.

The Brumbies enjoyed plenty of positive moments with a fair share of possession, yet they pressure they built through phase play would regularly amount to nothing.

Along with the wall in white that repelled their advances, the Brumbies were undone by some costly turnovers, unable to execute the final pass to...