Rugby: Chiefs sitting pretty before appointment with Reds

The Chiefs' Dwayne Sweeney makes a dash for it against the Western Force in Perth yesterday. Photo / Getty Images

Another victory, another bonus point. The Chiefs have ticked all the necessary boxes ahead of their homecoming match against the Reds on Friday.

They will welcome back custodian and skipper Mils Muliaina one-point shy of the maximum 15 points available, while sitting third behind the Bulls (15), and Hurricanes (14) on points difference.

You would expect coach Ian Foster to be a happy man, and he is ... except for a grain of sand he can't shake from his shoe.

"It's a little disappointing that we've been handed a Friday game after three weeks on the road where we don't get back into New Zealand until early Monday morning," Foster said of a draw that has them meeting the Reds in Hamilton on Friday night.

But like any good coach, he has found a way of turning that into a positive, saying that it means the Chiefs have no choice but to land in the country with their feet firmly planted on terra firma.

It can't be easy, however, when you have just achieved something no Chiefs side has done before.

"I have said all along that this competition is about getting into phases of momentum," he said.

"Once you're in them you've got to make them last. We've started well but when you look at the teams we've played, all three of them are at the bottom of the table at the moment so we're fully aware we've got some pretty big games coming up."

After the freakish events of Johannesburg a week earlier, Foster was pleased that rugby returned to normality. In the stifling Perth heat - the game kicked off at 31C before bottoming out at 28C - the Chiefs defended strongly and applied killer touches on attack to win 37-19.

"We absorbed a lot of pressure really well, particularly in the first 20 minutes and that first 10 minutes after halftime," Foster said, "then we were nicely clinical in terms of scoring points when we had opportunities."

The match started with the impressive Stephen Donald and James O'Connor trading penalties before Hika Elliot put the finishing touches on a great team try.

The Chiefs pinched a lineout from the Force deep in their own half, Brendon Leonard scooted away, kicked and regathered and eventually Elliot was given a run to the line.

The Force pegged the score back to 13-12 without really looking threatening, so much so that when Lelia Masaga scored a brilliant comeback try after a break by Dwayne Sweeney, you suspected it was game over.

Colin Bourke barged over from close range after another scintillating Masaga burst.

The Chiefs gifted Ryan Cross a late intercept try as they chased a bonus point, though that was quickly forgotten when rookie Tim Nanai-Williams darted in from close range.

"The real pleasing thing from a coaching perspective is the number of new players we've been able to integrate in [during] the past three weeks," Foster said.

"They've had their first taste of Super 14 and we've got a number of guys who aren't with us, [yet] we're still tracking pretty well.

The injury-hit Force now get a fortnight to rest weary bones and to assimilate former Chiefs' playmaker David Hill into their systems.

"I don't like the bye being so early and I would have liked it halfway through, but it is timely with David Hill arriving," Force coach John Mitchell said.