Damian McKenzie masterclass sees Chiefs book semi-final spot with one-sided win over Reds

The Chiefs became the first team to advance to this year’s Super Rugby Pacific semi-finals when they cruised to a deserved 43-21 victory over the Reds in Hamilton on Friday.

Once again, the Chiefs’ All Blacks fly-half Damian McKenzie was the star of the show as he delivered an attacking masterclass and finished with a 13-point haul courtesy of five conversions and a penalty.

The home side’s other points came via tries from Samisoni Taukei’aho (2), Emoni Narawa, Etene Nanai-Seturo, Anton Lienert-Brown and Bradley Slater.

For the Reds, Tate McDermott scored a brace of tries and Lawson Creighton also dotted down while Creighton (2) and Tom Lynagh succeeded with conversions.

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The match started brightly for the Chiefs when Taukei’aho displayed tremendous strength to shrug off five defenders at close quarters before powering his way over the whitewash in the sixth minute.

Shortly afterwards, Wallace Sititi found himself in space down the right-hand touchline and did well to throw an inside pass to Narawa, who outsprinted the cover defence and crossed for his try.

Five minutes later, the home side increased their lead when Narawa did brilliantly to offload out of the back of his hand, while being bundled into touch inside the Reds’ 22, and Taukei’aho gathered to score his second try.

That meant the score was 21-0 by the 18th minute as McKenzie slotted all three conversions.

The Reds needed a response and they thought they had opened their account when Matt Faessler dotted down from the back of a lineout drive, but his effort was disallowed when television replays revealed a double movement.

That missed opportunity proved costly as the Chiefs soon made the men from Brisbane pay and they did it in style with Nanai-Seturo gathering a perfectly weighted grubber kick from Shaun Stevenson before cantering in for his side’s fourth try.

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McKenzie added the extras and on the stroke of half-time he slotted a penalty which meant the Chiefs were cruising with the score 31-0 in their favour at the interval.

And we go another week 🫡 pic.twitter.com/kx2z618vFp

— Gallagher Chiefs (@ChiefsRugby) June 7, 2024

The Reds needed a quick start to the second half if they wanted to stay in this contest and they did just that when McDermott dotted down from close quarters after Mac Grealy was stopped just short of the try-line in the build-up.

That score did not deter the Chiefs, who stayed true to their attacking roots, and in the 53rd minute McKenzie showed his class with a delightful offload to Lienert-Brown inside the Reds’ 22 and the All Blacks centre had an easy run-in for his five-pointer.

Soon after, the Reds struck back when Seru Uru knocked the ball backwards, after being tackled deep inside the Chiefs’ 22, and McDermott regathered before crossing the whitewash.

However, the visitors suffered another setback in the 62nd minute when Hunter Paisami was yellow carded for a deliberate knock down of a Chiefs pass deep inside the Reds’ half and soon after Slater crossed the whitewash from close quarters to hammer home the hosts’ dominance.

With the game in the bag, the Chiefs took their foot off the pedal in the final quarter and in the 74th minute Creighton crossed for a consolation try but it was too little, too late as the home side had done enough to book their spot in the Super Rugby Pacific semi-finals.

The teams

Chiefs: 15 Shaun Stevenson, 14 Emoni Narawa, 13 Anton Lienert-Brown, 12 Rameka Poihipi, 11 Etene Nanai-Seturo, 10 Damian McKenzie, 9 Cortez Ratima, 8 Wallace Sititi, 7 Luke Jacobson (c), 6 Samipeni Finau, 5 Tupou Vaa’i, 4 Jimmy Tupou, 3 George Dyer, 2 Samisoni Taukei’aho, 1 Aidan Ross
Replacements: 16 Bradley Slater, 17 Jared Proffit, 18 Reuben O’Neill, 19 Naitoa Ah Kuoi, 20 Simon Parker, 21 Xavier Roe, 22 Quinn Tupaea, 23 Daniel Rona

Reds: 15 Jock Campbell, 14 Tim Ryan, 13 Josh Flook, 12 Hunter Paisami, 11 Mac Grealy, 10 Tom Lynagh, 9 Tate McDermott, 8 John Bryant, 7 Fraser McReight, 6 Liam Wright, 5 Ryan Smith, 4 Seru Uru, 3 Jeffery Toomaga-Allen, 2 Matt Faessler, 1 Alex Hodgman
Replacements: 16 Josh Nasser, 17 Sef Fa’agase, 18 Zane Nonggorr, 19 Connor Vest, 20 Joe Brial, 21 Kalani Thomas, 22 Lawson Creighton, 23 Taj Annan

Referee: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees: Stu Curran (New Zealand), Jackson Henshaw (New Zealand)
TMO: Glenn Newman (New Zealand)

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