KEY POINTS:
In a week that seemed to offer a daily dose of bad news, Chiefs halfback Brendon Leonard proved himself the perfect antidote last night.
Yesterday it was the turn of Chris Jack, the amiable lock from Shirley, when he announced he was packing up his kitbag at the end of the World Cup for life as a marauding Saracen.
He will be missed, as will Anton Oliver, Aaron Mauger, Carl Hayman and Byron Kelleher.
In the latter case there is a ready-made replacement. Leonard is, like Kelleher, an energiser bunny of a scrumhalf. Although he does not yet possess the physical presence of the All Black No 9, Leonard makes up for it with terrific acceleration, an eye for a gap, and a low centre of gravity that allows him to bust half-gaps despite rarely being on the right side of the tale of the tape.
Against the Sharks he added another try to the three he notched as a replacement last week.
"I guess it's all about running good support lines, good inside lines," Leonard said.
More impressive, though, than his nose for a five-pointer is the fact he lost nothing in comparison to the highly regarded Ruan Pienaar. The Sharks halfback is challenging Fourie du Preez for the Springboks job but Leonard showed he was in that class.
Despite having just 10 caps at this level, Chiefs coach Ian Foster said the impact Leonard is having was no surprise to him.
"He's a quality player. He's got his own style. He had three starts earlier in the year and while it took him a while to find his feet at this level he's got his opportunity with Jamie Nutbrown and Byron Kelleher out and he's taking his opportunity.
"His kicking game was an important factor for us."
Like Foster, Sharks coach Dick Muir was well aware of Leonard's talents, but was a little surprised by the tactics he employed.
The man himself gave himself a pass mark, just, for his kicking: "Some of them went well but some of them were shockers. Then we figured out we had to get a bit more height on them to use our chasers properly and put a bit of pressure on them. they started shelling a few after that."
The common practice when a player signals his intention to move on is for the pretenders to the throne to play dumb, to play down their claims. Not Leonard.
He freely admits that when Kelleher announced he was leaving for Agen he immediately saw it as a great opportunity to advance his career.
"Definitely. Not just with the Chiefs but Waikato as well. I suppose I'm the next in line and I've got to prove I'm worthy of the place."
He was more reticent about taking the step to the ultimate level.
"That's a few years away yet." He might be selling himself short.
All of a sudden New Zealand is well served at the base of the scrum. There's Kelleher out in front, closely followed by the versatile Piri Weepu. After that you'd struggle to separate Leonard, Andrew Ellis, Jimmy Cowan, while Alby Matthewson is developing as a real prospect.
The stage belonged to Leonard last night though and he is as good a symbol of the Chiefs' resurgence as anybody.
