Quinn Tupaea and Kyren Taumoefolau each scored twice as the Chiefs cruised to a 42–14 bonus-point victory over the NSW Waratahs in Hamilton, leaping into third place on the Super Rugby Pacific ladder.
The result extends the Waratahs’ dismal record across the Tasman — they have now lost 11 consecutive matches in New Zealand and haven’t won in Hamilton since 2014, the year they claimed their only title.
Key moments
8 mins – TRY CHIEFS: Xavier Roe stabs a kick in behind after a dominant scrum and Sid Harvey fails to scoop it up, allowing Kyren Taumoefolau to pounce on the loose ball. Josh Jacomb misses the conversion. (Chiefs 5–0)
15 mins – PENALTY CHIEFS: Jacomb slots a penalty from in front after Charlie Gamble is pinged at the breakdown. (Chiefs 8–0)
27 mins – TRY CHIEFS: The Chiefs hammer away from close range, rolling through multiple phases before Samisoni Taukei’aho burrows over from a Roe pop pass. Jacomb misses the conversion. (Chiefs 13–0)
31 mins – TRY WARATAHS: The Waratahs stay patient on the right before swinging it through the hands. Max Jorgensen fires a pass wide to find Sid Harvey unmarked on the left wing. Harvey converts his own try. (Chiefs 13–7)
37 mins – TRY CHIEFS: Quinn Tupaea creates the opportunity with a classy break before finding the space close to the line several phases later. He dives over to the right of the posts. Jacomb converts. (Chiefs 20–7)
40 mins – PENALTY CHIEFS: Jacomb caps off a dominant first half with another three-pointer after Harvey is isolated at ruck-time. (Chiefs 23–7)
Half-time: Chiefs 23–7. A comfortable lead at the break for the Chiefs, who have dominated territory and possession. Their scrum has proved a key weapon, while Kaylum Boshier, Quinn Tupaea and Kyren Taumoefolau have all looked dangerous with ball in hand.
46 mins – TRY CHIEFS: Roe makes the initial break before spellbinding play from Jacomb sets up Tupaea for his second. The centre shows great strength to shed defenders and crash over. Jacomb converts. (Chiefs 30–7)
59 mins – TRY CHIEFS: Tupou Vaa’i holds up a pass to send Ollie Norris charging through a hole, and the loosehead bursts into the 22. He pops it off the deck to Samipeni Finau, who crashes over. Jacomb converts. (Chiefs 37–7)
69 mins – TRY WARATAHS: Strong carries from Folau Fainga’a set the platform before Jake Gordon finds Pete Samu, who strolls over from close range. Harvey converts. (Chiefs 37–14)
76 mins – TRY CHIEFS: Taumoefolau flies out of the line and crunches Triston Reilly, forcing the turnover. He gathers the loose ball and races 60 metres untouched to seal the bonus point. Jacomb misses. (Chiefs 42–14)
Full-time: Chiefs 42–14
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h2>Match report/h2>
After snapping an eight-match losing streak against the ACT Brumbies in Canberra last week, the Waratahs travelled to Waikato chasing another hoodoo-busting win to regain a place in the competition’s top six. Instead, Dan McKellar’s men were never truly in the contest after heading to the sheds trailing 23–7 at the break.
“The first half there’s a lot of times where we gave ourselves opportunities, and just a few dropped balls, a bit of skill execution, when we need to finish off against the Chiefs,” said rueful skipper Matt Philip. “They don’t give you that many opportunities and we played a lot of rugby in our end and we couldn’t win that physical battle.”
Hamilton presents one of the toughest challenges in Super Rugby for visiting teams. The Waratahs are greeted by an ultra-physical pack and incessant cow bells from the crowd — and it relentlessly shines a spotlight on errors.
In his first start since round two, Taumoefolau reminded everyone of his star power from his time with Moana Pasifika last year. Injuries to Damian McKenzie (concussion) and Etene Nanai-Seturo (foot) gave the 22-year-old the opportunity to start on the left wing, and he made the most of it.
His first try came in the eighth minute when Waratahs fullback Sid Harvey — a goalkicking hero in last week’s 30–28 win over the Brumbies — was unable to clean up a probing Xavier Roe grubber kick. Taumoefolau was quickest to react, pouncing on the loose ball to open the scoring.
His second was even more emphatic. In the 76th minute, Taumoefolau flew out of the defensive line and crunched centre Triston Reilly, forcing the turnover. He gathered the loose ball and raced 60 metres untouched to put the icing on the cake.
It was a scrappy start from both sides, with errors creeping into the early exchanges. But a simple knock-on from Waratahs playmaker Jack Debreczeni opened the door for the first try. From the ensuing scrum, Kaylum Boshier broke through and sent Roe into space, with Roe kicking ahead for Taumoefolau to score.
A Jacomb penalty extended the lead to 8–0, and the Chiefs continued to apply pressure. The Waratahs’ defence held firm initially — Max Jorgensen produced a brilliant trysaver on Emoni Narawa, sprinting from the midfield to tackle the winger, while Roe was held up over the line after a sustained attacking spell.
But the dam eventually broke. After a 13-phase build-up, bulldozing hooker Samisoni Taukei’aho crashed over from close range. The Chiefs’ patience in building phases — rather than flinging the ball wide — was paying dividends.
After being starved of possession, the Waratahs finally worked their way into Chiefs territory for the first time since the opening exchanges. Two infringements by the hosts allowed a rare foray into the danger zone, and winger Jorgensen flung a massive 20-metre pass to his left flank where fullback Harvey was in a heap of space to slide over for his first career try. Harvey followed it with a tricky conversion from the left sideline.
But just as the Waratahs looked to be building momentum heading into the break, the Chiefs struck again. Leroy Carter gave a deft pass for Tupaea to go clean through, and the power-packed centre smashed Harvey to pieces before burrowing over a few rucks later to put the lead back in double digits.
Then right on the stroke of halftime, a dropped high ball from Harvey allowed Josh Lord to show off his kicking skills. Tupou Vaa’i got over the top to win a penalty in front of the sticks, sending the Chiefs to the sheds up 23–7.
The Chiefs endured an untidy start to the second half and had Narawa leave the action with a leg injury — which gave former Hurricane Daniel Sinkinson his Chiefs debut off the bench. But it was another scrum penalty which quickly turned the tide.
Another patient build-up ensued and off a nice ball from Jacomb, Tupaea cut back on the inside to brush away Andrew Kellaway and then carry centre Reilly over the line for his double in the 46th minute.
Then came the moment of the match. Finau produced a crunching hit on Waratahs prop Siosifa Amone — reminiscent of the monster tackles he had made a habit of putting on Aussie flyhalves in recent years — which led to a turnover. The bruising blindside was later rewarded when Vaa’i held up a nice pass for Ollie Norris to make a good burst and offload for Finau to charge 10 metres and over the chalk.
Pete Samu hit back for the Waratahs after a charging run from replacement tighthead Amone, but by then the result was beyond doubt.
While Taumoefolau grabbed the headlines with his brace, the Chiefs’ All Blacks contingent laid the platform. Tupaea was influential throughout, demonstrating why he is leading the votes for Super Rugby player of the year. Fellow national rep Carter made a fine fist of centre in just his second run there, with all his pace proving particularly pivotal on defence.
Finau was outstanding on both sides of the ball, while flyhalf Jacomb steered the side more than ably in McKenzie’s absence — even if he had an off night with the boot, missing three conversions.
The Chiefs’ scrum dominance told the story. They blew away the Waratahs at set-piece time, which laid the platform in a big way. The stats backed it up: 358 post-contact metres to 215, and 135 ball carries to 86.
“We can’t have the Chiefs, who are such a good attacking side, living in our 22. We’re going to let up points eventually,” Philip said.
“Look, when we play our game and execute our roles, we do some good things. We saw that last week in Canberra. But unfortunately we couldn’t take the momentum and we dropped off a bit tonight and weren’t good enough, so we’ll be reviewing that hard into the bye this week.
“We’re going to still look at those 80-minute performances, the last passes, and a little bit about discipline as well.”
The Chiefs are back in action next Saturday when they face Moana Pasifika in Rotorua, while the Waratahs have the bye before returning with a home game against Moana Pasifika.
Teams
Chiefs: 15 Liam Coombes-Fabling, 14 Emoni Narawa, 13 Leroy Carter, 12 Quinn Tupaea, 11 Kyren Taumoefolau, 10 Josh Jacomb, 9 Xavier Roe, 8 Kaylum Boshier, 7 Luke Jacobson (c), 6 Samipeni Finau, 5 Tupou Vaa’i, 4 Josh Lord, 3 Reuben O’Neill, 2 Samisoni Taukei’aho, 1 Ollie Norris.
Replacements: 16 Brodie McAlister, 17 Jared Proffit, 18 George Dyer, 19 Seuseu Naitoa Ah Kuoi, 20 Simon Parker, 21 Cortez Ratima, 22 Kyle Brown, 23 Daniel Sinkinson.
Waratahs: 15 Sid Harvey, 14 Andrew Kellaway, 13 Triston Reilly, 12 Joey Walton, 11 Max Jorgensen, 10 Jack Debreczeni, 9 Teddy Wilson, 8 Pete Samu, 7 Charlie Gamble, 6 Clem Halaholo, 5 Miles Amatosero, 4 Matt Philip (c), 3 Dan Botha, 2 Ethan Dobbins, 1 Tom Lambert.
Replacements: 16 Folau Fainga’a, 17 Jack Barrett, 18 Siosifa Amone, 19 Angus Blyth, 20 Jamie Adamson, 21 Jake Gordon, 22 Jack Bowen, 23 George Poolman.
Match details
Chiefs 42 (Tries: Tupaea 2, Taumoefolau 2, Taukei’aho, Finau; Conversions: Jacomb 3/6; Penalties: Jacomb 2/2)
Waratahs 14 (Tries: Harvey, Samu; Conversions: Harvey 2/2)
Half-time: 23–7
Venue: FMG Stadium Waikato, Hamilton
Attendance: 11,475
Referee: James Doleman (NZ)
Assistant referees: Marcus Playle, Fraser Hannon
TMO: Glenn Newman
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