Sloppy Chiefs ought to kick themselves

Cats 21
Chiefs 16

The Chiefs are in Perth dwelling on one of the advantages of enlarging to a Super 14 competition as they prepare to face the Force on Friday night.

In the old Super 12, a team's chances of making the semifinals could be gone before the halfway stage.

The Super 14 with its extra couple of rounds offers teams the chance to get past a wonky patch and still have time to get into the frame heading towards the final run home.

And that's what the Chiefs will be pondering after losing their second consecutive game in South Africa - and the second they know they should have won - going down to the Cats in Johannesburg.

They play the Force, coached by celebrated Waikato old boy John Mitchell, in Perth, and also still looking for their first win in their debut season.

But the Chiefs, who have lost on all three visits to Ellis Park since the Sanzar competition began in 1996, should be kicking themselves.

Certainly they were done no favours by Australian referee Stuart Dickinson, who, having sent off Cats lock Willem Stoltz just before halftime for flying into a ruck knees first, then whacked the Chiefs 11-2 in the second-half penalty count.

Tiaan Snyman, a distinctly limited first five-eighth, who missed four of his first seven penalty attempts, found his range and banged over three penalties, fullback Earl Rose kicked one and the Chiefs - 16-9 up at the break and facing 14 players - rarely looked like getting over the line. Indeed, they got just one second-half shot at goal, and that two minutes after the restart.

That told its own story. The Chiefs were simply unable to put any sort of error-inducing stress on the seven Cats forwards at the right end of the park.

For answers, the Chiefs needed to look at themselves.

They were unable to find gaps in a Cats defence which grew in belief with the arrival of giant lock KleinJan Tromp as the home side worked a forward rejig in the aftermath of Stoltz's dismissal.

Tromp was prominent as the Cats rumbled forward, halfback Enrico Januarie was a perky operator and captain Wikus van Heerden was indefatigable.

But at a time when they needed to guard possession like they would a loved one, the Chiefs' handling and offloading was sloppy.

Too often they seemed unable to figure out what to do next. Against a really good team, they'd have been in big trouble. But even the Cats could see there was life post-Stoltz. They didn't loosen their grip and when Marty Holah got a yellow card six minutes from the end, you knew there would be no happy ending.