Hometown heroes to give Chiefs the blues

The upsets keep coming in Super Rugby Pacific with top qualifiers Hurricanes deservedly bowled out by fourth-placed Chiefs.

Our tipsters struggled to get both games, except in Wanaka, where five out of eight correctly picked the two winners. Beautiful stuff.

At Eden Park the Blues did what they have done all season and crushed the Brumbies up front, especially in the first period. They are masters at strangling the opposition in their own 22. They scored most of their tries from close range and that happened again on Friday evening. The match was out of the Brumbies’ reach at half-time and the Blues, with their 34-20 victory, now play a home final on Saturday evening.

On Saturday in Wellington, the Chiefs started like they were on steroids and threw everything at the Canes, who couldn’t handle the pressure. Tyro No.8 Wallace Sititi and halfback Cortez Ratima raised their hands for higher honors with some stunning spells for the Chiefs.

The Chiefs led 17-7 at the break and had the game at their mercy. Their looseness terrorized the Canes into countless mistakes and they just didn’t recover. They played better in the second period, but their match was over, 19-30, as the Chiefs marched into the local derby final.

But at what price? Samisoni Taukei’aho limped off with a serious cruciate ligament injury and replacement hooker Brad Slater was on one leg before going off with a blow to the head.

Average tips in Southland apart from Richard from Collingwood Foodcentre and Wooden Spoon Grant from Carpets & Drapes. Shane from GWD has a one point lead over Ben at Shoe Clinic, so it all comes down to the final match. Good luck guys.

On a side note, Southland’s favorite son Simon Culhane failed to trouble the scorers!

So who will win the final?

It will be a big, loud crowd in Auckland, but the match is almost too close to call. The Chiefs will need to solve their hooker problems and Shaun Stevenson was not up front on Saturday. The Blues’ pack should have the edge in the tight situation, but the Chiefs’ loose players are in blazing form and are brutal in defence.

Whoever wins that fight wins the game.

There is not much between the back lines. I’ll stick with the home team (12-) but the Chiefs will have plenty to say about that! Good punting.

– By Paul Dwyer