Chiefs too strong for Cats

The Chiefs romped home with a 45-14 victory over the Cats in Hamilton tonight, providing them a glimmer of hope for a Super 12 rugby semifinal appearance.


The Chiefs were dominant for most of the game, and put the result almost doubt by halftime.


After a frantic opening spell at Waikato Stadium, Chiefs halfback Byron Kelleher opened the scoring with a try in the 13th minute, capping an attack that began deep inside opposition territory.


Six minutes later Kelleher was back among the action, feeding a pass to lock Bernie Upton, who was awarded a try by referee Matt Goddard after appearing on television replays to have been held up just short of the tryline.


A penalty by Chiefs goalkicker David Hill stretched the lead to 17-0 before the Cats backline finally broke through the defence and set up a try for winger Conrad Jantjes.


Another Chiefs try put the home team ahead by 31-7 at halftime, but not before an incident where play was stopped after prop Deacon Manu was hurt at the bottom of a maul.


Replays showed a Cats boot stomping down on the side of Manu's head as he lay on the ground. No immediate action was taken by officials, who appeared not to have seen the incident.


Kelleher was straight back among the action after halftime, splitting the Cats defence and adding another converted try to the tally.


Chiefs winger Sitiveni Sivivatu did the same 20 minutes later with a brilliant run to score near the goalposts.


The Cats managed a consolation try with 10 minutes remaining but it was too little too late.


Both teams had more opportunities to score but were let down by handling errors at crucial times.


The Cats were left with plenty to think about with only one win from seven matches, and will need to improve if they want to avoid the wooden spoon.


It was the third win for the Chiefs, putting them up to seventh position.

Chiefs 45 (Byron Kelleher 2, Bernie Upton, Stephen Donald, Sione Lauaki, Sitiveni Sivivatu tries; David Hill pen, 6 con)

Cats 14 (Conrad Jantjes, Juan Smith tries; Andre Pretorius 2 con). Halftime: 31-7.

- NZPA