CHIEFS 20
WARATAHS 17
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Chiefs first five-eighths Stephen Donald wasn't exactly confident when he stepped up to take Saturday's match-winning shot at goal against the Waratahs.
By his own admission, Donald hasn't been kicking well this season. Added to that, he'd only just returned to the field after having his nose bashed and bloodied a few minutes earlier, and the penalty attempt was from a tricky location.
"It was the worst spot to be kicking it from with that wind," Donald said of the angled 30m match-winner. "It had been blowing that way all week, which is pretty rare in Hamilton and, to be honest, I hadn't put one over from there all week.
"But those are the kicks you get to enjoy if you put them over. I guess that's what you put the practice in for. I missed a couple earlier that I should have got but I am pretty happy to have got that one over.
"It's always good to get a pressure kick. I haven't got my rhythm yet this year but I'm sure that will do me a world of good."
Donald shouldn't have needed to make such a pressure-cooker kick after the Chiefs forged a 17-0 lead early in the second half when Richard Kahui crossed for their third try. But Kahui's injury-enforced withdrawal - results are due today from the X-ray on a suspected broken ankle - immediately after scoring sent the Chiefs into freefall. In the end they were lucky not to lose after running out of back reserves, a situation that saw flanker Liam Messam pressed into service at second five-eighths while Donald was in the blood bin.
Coach Ian Foster accepted the blame after naming just two backs in his seven reserves.
"It was like a hospital ward there for a while," Foster said. "All my very clever strategic plans on that 5-2 split certainly got exposed."
An early Messam try and a disputed 60m solo effort from Sitiveni Sivivatu put the Chiefs in the box seat for much of the match before the Waratahs exposed Kahui's absence.
Mils Muliaina was all at sea defensively after switching to centre, allowing Ben Jacobs to open the Waratahs' account, while replacement Sam Harris intercepted a telegraphed Sivivatu pass in midfield and cantered under the posts to further erode the lead.
The Waratahs should have gone in front after Lote Tuqiri's 76th-minute try tied the scores but first five eighths Kurtley Beale, who had just one successful kick in the match, hit the post with his conversion attempt.
Waratahs coach Ewen McKenzie didn't have the same luxury.
"He's a young kid and we're asking him to do a lot," he said of Beale. "He's kicking them well in practice."
Replays suggested there may have been some doubt over the grounding of Sivivatu's try but Waratahs captain Phil Waugh refused to criticise referee Marius Jonker for not calling on the TMO to adjudicate.
"He ran what, 60m? We should have stopped him 50m up the field, that's just the way the game goes," Waugh said.
Donald could have sealed the result and a bonus-point fourth try when he lost the ball over the line with 12 minutes remaining, so he was understandably delighted to have made amends.
"It had been a bit of a tough week after a bit of a no-show at Eden Park and everyone once again got on the wagon and said 'the Chiefs are the same old'," the first five-eighth said.
"But we feel we have a bit more resolve than that and we are pretty happy it has only taken two weeks to get our first win.
"Now we can rock and roll. The boys will take some confidence out of this.
"We never really bought into that 'same old Chiefs' stuff. We are pretty proud of the fact that we bounced back so quick."
All Blacks halfback Brendon Leonard is the other major injury concern before Friday night's trip to Wellington to play the Hurricanes.
Leonard suffered a severe haematoma to his left thigh that will be further assessed today.
The Chiefs' other favoured halfback, Jamie Nutbrown, has already been sidelined for six to eight weeks with injured knee ligaments.
