KEY POINTS:
SUPER 14
Chiefs 32
Reds 20
If this was week three of the Super 14, the chip-and-chase Stephen Donald attempted in the fourth minute would have been charged down and the Reds would have scored at the other end.
His kicks would have hit the post and
bounced out, and the referee would have ruled that Lelia Masaga's right hand went into touch at the same time he planted the ball in goal from Donald's weighted grubber as halftime approached.
But this is week 11 and things have changed for Donald and, as a result, the Chiefs.
Instead he brilliantly regathered his chip by palming it forward to himself, he nailed kicks from all angles and the video ref ruled in his favour on Masaga's grounding.
And when the wheel nuts started coming loose in the second half, the No 10 calmly slotted a penalty to restore a seven-point buffer.
The victory over the Crusaders last week was as good an example of manhandling a team as there has been in this year's Super 14 but last night, the route to victory was more a dismantling of the Reds in the first half, followed by a second half nap and a rude awakening.
Following Donald's kick and re-gather, Richard Kahui sent Masaga in from 40m unopposed.
This was set up perfectly as one of those heartbreakers in which the Chiefs specialise.
No team, with the notable exception of the All Blacks, is as skilled at making believers out of their fans before ripping their still-beating hearts from their chests with a performance of truly terrifying proportions.
Master of horror Vincent Price threatened to make a cameo appearance too, as Morgan Turinui, twice, and Digby Ioane scored too easily and with some haste to put the match back on a knife-edge.
That left it to 119kg prop Ben May to inject some comedy into the evening. Bursting on to a Liam Messam short ball, May faked Ioane into the air with a dummy kick then tried the Campese goose step to beat the cover. He was tackled centimetres short, much to replacement wing Sosene Anesi's chagrin as an in-pass would have found him unmarked.
As it turned out, May was only the set-up act. The punchline was left to No 8 Sione Lauaki, who scored arguably the least glamorous intercept try in rugby's long history. Running with such small strides for a big man, Lauaki was caught by Clinton Schifcofske 10m out. Lauaki got to his feet again and was this time caught by James Horwill. Somehow Lauaki managed to flop to the ground, roll over and dot down the ball. This game doesn't award style points, however, just bonus points, and that was enough for the Chiefs to move to 32 on the scoreboard and the table.
So the Chiefs finished this match with their feet in the top four, though they might not last the night there, depending on results across the Tasman and in South Africa.
Still they are essentially now masters of their own destiny. They take to the road to complete their season and face old boy John Mitchell and the Force in Perth before a relatively soft game against the Lions at Johannesburg and a potentially season-hinging finale against the Sharks.
As for the Reds, they still have a role to play in the make-up of the top four but, as is their habit, they are cast as the spoilers. They meet the Blues, Crusaders and Waratahs.
The loss means their record now stands at one win out of the 22 matches they have played on New Zealand soil this millennium.
Chiefs 32 (S. Donald, L.Masaga 2, S. Lauaki tries; Donald 2 pens, 3 cons) Reds 20 (M. Turinui 2, D. Ioane tries; C. Schifcofske con, B. Barnes dg). HT: 24-3.
