Chiefs captain Sam Cane send strong message after Super Rugby Pacific win over Brumbies

Sam Cane and the Chiefs are marching towards the playoffs. Photo / Getty

“If we think we’re happy with where we’re at, we won’t be good enough come finals time.”

It was a strong message delivered by Chiefs captain Sam Cane following his side’s 31-21 win over the Brumbies in Canberra on Saturday night which saw them clinch the top seed in the Super Rugby Pacific playoffs.

With a round left to play in the regular season, the Chiefs have put space between themselves and the pack, with the win being their 12th from 13 games. It sees them hold home advantage throughout the playoffs – something they hope to take full advantage of in the quest for their first title since 2013.

The Chiefs have been the competition’s standout performers throughout the campaign, and while they are proud of their achievements so far, Cane said achievements at this point in the season weren’t their end goal.

“The mentality is we know we’re going to have to keep improving and keep fine-tuning our game to find areas that we can improve and be better in, because if we think we’re happy with where we’re at, we won’t be good enough come finals time,” Cane said.

“We’re just looking for areas of our game we can be better at. We’ve been pretty hard on ourselves and pretty picky, because we know it doesn’t matter how many games you win during the season, it’s the ones at the back end that count. We’re building towards those.”

While the Chiefs needed just four minutes to break the Brumbies’ defence for the opening try, they were given a mighty test as the hosts controlled the play for long periods and asked plenty of questions of the Chiefs’ defence.

But the Chiefs knuckled down and took their opportunities when they arrived. The Chiefs made over 70 more tackles than the Brumbies, however the hosts couldn’t execute and turned the ball over 23 times.

Ultimately the Chiefs were able to build to a 10-point lead at halftime and maintain that gap.

“In the first half, it certainly felt like we were defending a lot and we were working really hard; there were a couple of times where we had to be really desperate and just hung on, but you’re going to get that when you come to the pointy end of the season,” Cane said.

“It’s going to come down to small moments; guys and the work they do off the ball to get set, making covering tackles, and I thought that was really good. I thought we did extremely well at 17-7 going into the break, then in the second half to come out and win the next 15-20 minutes and really put some pressure on them, I think if we were picky we would’ve liked to close the game out more efficiently and cleaner, but really proud of the effort.”

With the top spot locked away, the Chiefs will have some things to ponder around team selection for this weekend’s final regular season game against the Western Force in Perth - a match that could well have an impact on how the lower end of the playoff seedings shape up.