Rugby: Queensland side left red-faced as Chiefs right their ship and set sail into finals

Chiefs halfback Brad Weber gets a dive pass away from the base of a wobbly set piece against the Reds. Photo / Getty Images

The Chiefs were embarrassed by last week's loss to the Highlanders and that feeling needed to be rectified sooner or later.

Unfortunately for the Reds, it was sooner. By holding their opposition to three points on Saturday night, despite ceding two-thirds of the ball and battling with a struggling set piece, the Chiefs certainly banished any bad memories and set themselves up for another playoff charge.

Following their five-try humbling at the hands of the Highlanders, the Chiefs played as if suffering from a damaged collective ego. They restricted the Reds to Quade Cooper's fifth-minute penalty, tackled themselves to a standstill and rarely looked like being breached.

The defensive rearguard saw the Chiefs leapfrog the Highlanders into fourth spot on the standings and, if they hold that position in their final outing against the Hurricanes, the reward will be a home game in the opening week of the playoffs.

And if they continue their current defensive trend, following their worst performance of the season with their best, the Chiefs will be tough to top when the finals begin in two weeks.

"We were pretty embarrassed with our performance against the High-landers," Dave Rennie said. "But [against the Reds] we were really rapt with our defensive effort. You need that sort of thing going into the big games we've got coming up."

The Chiefs will need to amend their set piece ahead of those games. After all, with a fully functioning lineout and scrum, such a staunch defensive effort may not have been needed.

But after being such a strength all season, both facets picked the same game to stumble, with a wayward lineout leaving seven of 14 throws lost and an unstable scrum seeing four of nine feeds squandered.

When the Chiefs finally got their hands on the ball, they stole into a first-half lead, before leaning once more on their abilities without the ball in the second spell. Sam Cane again led his side with 19 tackles but every Chief contributed as the team amassed 154 with a success rate of more than 90 per cent.

The returns of Brodie Retallick and Liam Messam helped in that area, with the Chiefs' improving health a boon heading into the final week.

Sonny Bill Williams is set to shake off his back injury and add to the Chiefs' ranks against the Hurricanes, with Rennie denying Australian reports the national bosses had advised the second five to sit out the rest of the season.

"I'm sure the All Blacks would want him to play some footy and get some form behind him," Rennie said. "He'll certainly play."