Super Rugby Review: Chiefs
With the Super Rugby finalists now decided we take a look at those teams who missed out. First up, the Chiefs.
For the second successive year, the Chiefs thrilled their spectators with their superb brand of attacking rugby but, like in 2016, they fell at the semi-final hurdle.
There were numerous highlights throughout the year and with proven game-breakers like Damian McKenzie, Aaron Cruden Anton Lienert-Brown and James Lowe in their ranks, the two-time champions were always entertaining.
They finished the regular season in third position on the New Zealand Conference table and in sixth spot overall with 12 victories, a draw and two defeats from 15 matches played.
They started their campaign in brilliant fashion with victories against New Zealand rivals the Highlanders, Blues and Hurricanes, as well as the Melbourne Rebels.
After that, they beat the Bulls in Hamilton but their winning run came to a grinding halt when the Stormers beat them 34-26 – in one of the best games of this year's tournament – in Cape Town in Round 7.
The Chiefs put that result behind them and bounced back with wins against the Cheetahs, Western Force, Sunwolves and Reds which kept them in the hunt for honours in the New Zealand Conference.
They then headed to Suva to take on the Crusaders and although the Chiefs outscored their opponents four tries to three, the Crusaders claimed a 31-24 win.
The Chiefs then went to Auckland where they had to settle for a 16-16 draw with the Blues but bounced back in style with a 17-14 win over the Hurricanes in Wellington.
They beat the Brumbies in their final regular season game before grinding out a 17-11 quarter-final win over the Stormers in Cape Town, but their campaign finished at the weekend when the Crusaders beat them 27-13 in their semi-final in Christchurch.
That result brought to an end Dave Rennie's reign as Chiefs head coach as he now heads over to Scotland where will coach Glasgow Warriors in the PRO12.
Rennie's departure means it's also the end of an era for the 2012 and 2013 champions as he is joined at the Chiefs exit door by assistant coach Kieran Keane, who is off to Connacht, as well as stalwarts Cruden, Tawera Kerr-Barlow, Lowe, Michael Leitch and Hika Elliot who are moving to Montpellier, La Rochelle, Leinster, Sunwolves and Oyonnax respectively.
With Rennie gone, former Maori All Blacks coach Colin Cooper will take over the coaching reins.
Best player: There were several candidates with James Lowe and Brodie Retallick impressing throughout the campaign but, in the end, Damian McKenzie gets the nod after proving his worth week after week with several scintillating performances. The 22-year-old finished the campaign as the tournament's third highest point-scorer but it was with ball in hand where he made a telling impact. The diminutive full-back tops the tournament's statistics for carries (242), defenders beaten (80) and metres gained (1669) and is so far ahead of his nearest rivals in the aforementioned categories that it's unlikely that players from the Lions and Crusaders will overtake him after the final in Johannesburg this weekend.