CHIEFS 39
HIGHLANDERS 24
KEY POINTS:
The Chiefs will head to Canberra on Friday to play the Brumbies, riding a wave of renewed optimism after back-to-back emphatic victories.
After dishing out a second straight six-try thrashing - this time of the Highlanders in Hamilton on Saturday night - a team that only two weeks ago was being portrayed as a bunch of no-hopers with a second-rate coach is now the form New Zealand team in the Super 14.
Having taken the maximum 10 points from their last two matches, the Chiefs will head into round eight just a point out of an increasingly congested playoff picture.
The Brumbies, who will be coming off a bye on Friday night and may be boosted by the return of Sterling Mortlock, should provide a sterner test than the Bulls and the Highlanders. But Canberra is no longer the fortress it was when George Gregan and Stephen Larkham were in their pomp. The resurgent Chiefs will fancy their chances.
"We're pretty stoked with the win and to carry on the momentum of the last few weeks," captain Mils Muliana said after Saturday night's 39-24 victory. "We had a couple of lapses in the first half and again near the end but we have our momentum going to Canberra, which is always a hard ask."
Things seem to falling into place nicely for the Chiefs: they have a habit of finishing the competition strongly, and their captain, Jono Gibbes, should return after the bye-round that follows the trip to Canberra, while Richard Kahui and Sitiveni Sivivatu have already returned from ankle injuries with good effect.
Another positive is the form of wing Lelia Masaga, whose two crucial tries against the Highlanders suggest he may be close to recapturing the form that saw him finish last year's competition as the leading New Zealand try-scorer. Given space, Masaga is among the most dangerous customers around and thanks to a steadily improving forward pack, he increasingly gets it. They might not be the finished article, but the Chiefs are at least heading in the right direction - unlike some of their main competitors for the four semifinal spots.
The Blues' scratchy win over the Bulls put the Chiefs' demolition job on the same team a week earlier in perspective, while the Hurricanes continue to be unconvincing, particularly on attack. It all amounts to a favourable scenario for the Chiefs, who made their only semifinal appearance in 2004, Foster's first season in charge.
