The clock is ticking on the Chiefs' efforts to fix their malfunctioning lineout because after their mauling in this area at the hands of the Crus-aders, the Brumbies will be aiming to kick them where it hurts in Canberra.
The Brumbies, second overall and with one of the best lineouts in the competition, are coming off a bye; the Crusaders are going into one. The Chiefs, though, must once more enter the breach in what will be an extremely tough test of their mental and physical fortitude on Friday.
"She's pretty tight now," Chiefs coach Dave Rennie acknowledged of the competition after the Crusaders' 18-17 victory at Waikato Stadium cut his team's New Zealand Conference lead to three points. "Obviously if we'd won we would have kicked clear and found a little bit of space but that's the nature of this comp and now we'll need to show the character that we know this group has got and fight our way back out of it."
The obvious area of concern is the lineout, an area in which the Chiefs have long struggled and where the Crusaders put enormous pressure on in Hamilton on Saturday night. The Crusaders are the best in the competition in turning the heat on in the lineout and it made for an extremely tough night for 21-year-old Chiefs hooker Rhys Marshall.
"He's a bloody good player and great around the track," Rennie said. "He'll be frustrated. I think there were three not straights and a handful of ones that were overthrown. Some of it is a combination thing but over the last couple of weeks he's gone bloody well. He takes it pretty hard, too, as a young fella. He'll be hurting, he's a good kid and he's working bloody hard on his game. It's just one aspect that needs to be better."
