The Queensland Reds went across the ditch looking to extend their lead at the top of the Super Rugby standings, but they will return empty-handed and in second spot after blowing a series of missed chances against the Chiefs in the second half.
Level 10-10 in atrociously wet conditions in Hamilton, the Reds, as they have done all season, turned down a gift three points and kicked for the corner hoping for a try despite having a man in the sin bin in the 50th minute. But, as it did for much of the match, it backfired – and the Chiefs made them pay.
Not long after the Chiefs elected to take a shot at goals themselves and Damian McKenzie landed a difficult penalty to give the home side a 13-10 lead.
Then, having weathered the storm, Luke Jacobson went for the nail in the coffin, kicking for touch instead of trying to make it a six-point lead and run the risk of conceding a late converted try. It paid off as hooker Samisoni Taukei’aho scored.
Tupou Vaa’i celebrates during the Chiefs’ 27-15 win over the Queensland Reds in Hamilton. (Photo by Michael Bradley/Getty Images)
Xavier Roe’s dart then saw the Chiefs put the result beyond doubt, scoring by the edge of the ruck to make it a 27-10 ball game.
Replacement Reds playmaker Tom Lynagh crossed on the stroke of full-time to see the Reds go down 27-15.
The Reds undoubtedly will be kicking themselves for blowing chances and turning down several shots at goal.
The decision to go for touch was one, with the Reds’ maul coming down and the Chiefs winning a scrum feed.
Making the moment all the more frustrating was it came with Reds tight-head prop Jeffrey Toomaga-Allen in the sin bin after the TMO spotted a clumsy high shot at a ruck. It also occurred after the Reds mucked up the transition to the maul at two lineouts in the first half that led to Reds forwards coach Zane Hilton seeing red.
“I think if we did have 15 players on the field we probably would have taken the three there,” McDermott said.
“I’ll wear that as the captain. It was a discussion we had on the field, and we ended up backing the boys and that’s what we’ve done all year.
“It obviously didn’t come off. We’ll review why it didn’t come off, but that’s something I’ll wear as captain.”
Minutes earlier, fly-half Harry McLaughlin-Phillips was left livid after losing control of the ball in the process of diving for the tryline after a phenomenal individual effort to get close to the line.
Reds coach Les Kiss said he was pleased with his side’s effort, but also rued the missed chances.
“That 10-15 minutes they managed very well and then they controlled field position,” Kiss said on Sky.
“Some moments that we’d regret, we didn’t get the ball over when Harry McLaughlin-Phillips made the break and got over the line but the ball spilt out.
“A couple moments like that we weren’t clean enough, but the effort, intensity and defence at times was very pleasing.”
Harry McLaughlin-Phillips was centimetres away from scoring a stunning try against the Chiefs. (Photo by Michael Bradley/Getty Images)
Asked whether the decision to turn down shots at goal was a pre-planned tactic or left to the onfield leadership, Kiss reiterated his comments earlier in the week that it was largely left to those on the field.
“Most of it’s left to the leadership,” Kiss said.
“One of the things we were thinking about was the yellow, we were going to control field position and time, and we went to the corner early and got the return on that drive so the boys backed themselves again to go for it.
“Unfortunately, we got held up. Hindsight’s always the winner.”
Jacobson was delighted with his side’s response in the second half, having let the Reds into the game either side of half-time.
“The Reds are a quality team and I think we saw that tonight, it was a good back and forth battle,” the back-rower said.
“We probably didn’t execute on our sets as we’d have liked in the first half, but in the second half we were able to play in the right areas of the field and able to get some reward from it.
“We got a good win against the top of the table team and put ourselves on the top of the table, so we’ve got to be happy.”
On a horrible evening for rugby, the Chiefs made yet another flying start when Jacobson made the most of some strong field position and scored.
The Reds blew a chance soon after when Fraser McReight spilt the ball with the line seemingly open.
The home side looked like scoring another soon after, but McLaughlin-Phillips got on the ball to win his side a penalty.
Shortly after the Reds were over, having turned down a shot at goals to go for a try. It worked, with Matt Faessler getting on the end of a strong maul.
The Chiefs managed to get further in front when McKenzie landed a penalty to extend the lead out to 10-5.
After both sides couldn’t catch a cold, rising Reds back-rower Joe Brial made something out of nothing after storming onto a loose ball from a Filipo Daugunu up-and-under and kicking ahead for himself to score. McLaughlin-Phillips missed from out wide to see the game locked up at half-time.
While the Reds lost Toomaga-Allen to an illegal cleanout early in the second half, the visitors almost grabbed the lead when McLaughlin-Phillips found space. But the exciting playmaker was pulled down just short and lost control of the ball.
Then disaster struck as the Reds turned down another gift three points in search for the try. It didn’t work and the Reds never recovered.
“We wanted to match fire with fire, but the weather didn’t allow us to do that, so we had to change tack with our kick plan and we had really good success with that in the first half, a lot of errors from their back three of who are all brilliant players,” McDermott said.
“We lost our way a little bit in the second half, but we’ll look at what we did well and didn’t, because we’ve got a huge game against the Brumbies at home next week.”
The Chiefs’ 12-point win saw them move up into first on 26 points, three points clear of Reds who are in second.