THE CHIEFS WON!!!  Shock and disbelief swept through the Chiefs franchise as news of them not going down in a burning heap, and in fact winning by 13+ sent shockwaves through the franchise, one hopes that Saint Johns hasn’t been inundated with elderly people from rest-homes having heart-attacks upon hearing the news.

Still it wasn’t a pretty win, but a win none-the-less, the Chiefs coughed and spluttered their way much like a Morris Minor being push-started down a slight gradient complete with some-one yelling in a strained voice “hit the ignition now, Son, NOW, are you sure you’ve got it in3rd, I can’t push any harder, quick Son hit the ignition” to a 26 – 9 win.

Both teams went into the game winless, and the desperation to recover some lost pride from the opening rounds was evident in the opening exchanges.  Both sets of players were desperate for the win (a remarkable turn-around for the Chiefs it must be admitted, who’s previous efforts had the intensity that perhaps a pipe and slippers would have done justice too, and not a rugby jersey).  How-ever desperation can be a rather unhelpful thing on the rugby field if not channelled in the right direction.  Too often desperate players will infringe at the ruck, sticking their hands in trying to get that turn-over, or hold onto a pass trying for the gap when some-one outside them is free, or come off their man trying to make a try-saving tackle that doesn’t need to be made.  Sometimes desperation causes players to try and do too much by themselves, instead of trusting the team-mates around them to do their jobs.  
 
After the opening penalty exchanges it became evident that the team that first settled down and started to trust the players around them and started to play like a team – instead of 15 mad-men trying to win the game by them-selves would take away the points.  Thankfully for Chiefs fans it was their team that settled down, started to take their hands out of the rucks and trusted their team-mates to do their job on defence instead of giving away penalty after penalty at the break-down as per last week.  For the Force sadly the reverse was true, the first try was leaked by a player coming off his man and leaving Simivatu with an almost free run to the line.  Brock James after spinning the ball wide once or twice early on then took it upon himself to kick the ball away at every opportunity and the Force’s forwards, who were combative through-out needlessly gave away penalties at the line-out when they were dominating this phase of the game.  Again if they had just trusted their own abilities instead of trying to be clever at the line-out they would have come away with 3 less penalties and much better field position and territory.  Even a team limping away like the Chiefs, if presented with enough ball on a platter will make you pay for it.
 
What was most pleasing for the Chiefs was that their “big name” players actually stood up in this game.  Simivatu actually looked interested in getting his hands on the ball and scored a good wingers try, Mills also dotted down for his first try in a Chiefs jersey and Anesi looked dangerous and quick when-ever he got the ball and nicely set up 2 of the Chiefs 3 try’s.  Tuitupo was again a 1-man wrecking ball at second -5, though annoyingly he negated that at times trying to throw a miracle pass to bumbling feet for hands loose forwards behind him.  
 
Even then it was a stuttering stop/go affair, the Force’s propensity to kick the ball away and with the Chiefs line-out firing on 2 out of 4 cylinders giving the ball back to the Force so they could kick it again much of the game was played in the middle of the field.  Perth fans could be forgiven for thinking that perhaps it was a hybrid game of Aussie rules with too many fat blokes on the field.  Alas the game with its pointless kicking, poor handling and incredible amount of set-pieces was a largely forgettable affair.  In a nut-shell the 2 forward packs effectively cancelled each other out – the winning of the game came from the Chiefs having classier backs (compared to the Force, whose backs have no class, not even kindergarten).
 
The Force were the best thing to happen to rugby in WA, however they are suddenly in danger of becoming the worst thing that could happen to rugby in WA.  With current form it’s difficult to see how they could win a raffle let alone a game of rugby.  Their forward pack is competitive, but the backs it has to be said are appalling.  The Hurricanes must be thanking their lucky start that the ARU didn’t let the Taranaki duo of James and Hingledorf play for them, Howell may have his limitations but at least he can pass…The Force quite simply need to find some creativity in the backline – some way to score points other-wise it’s going to be a long hard season which wont do much to encourage the mass of season ticket holders this year to come back.  The Force are in desperate need of some cunning back-line moves off their solid set-piece, two skip passes to a winger that hasn’t got the pace to go around his opposite even if he receives the ball a yard ahead just isn’t going to work. 
 
For the Chiefs, well back at home in friendly territory and facing what must be a gutted Reds outfit after slogging their guts out in the last 2 games for only a solitary bonus point.  Is this win a badly needed kick-start to their season to get them out of second (or possibly first) gear?  We have all seen the Chiefs perform horribly on the road to come back home and unexpectedly burst forth some wonderful open running rugby and we have all seen them come home and unexpectedly produce dire performances against teams they should beat.  So who will turn up this Friday?? Jekyll or Hyde, at least for us red-eyed Chiefs fans we’ll find out at a reasonable hour…