Chiefs prepare for physical Bulls
May 28 2009
Chiefs captain Mils Muliaina believes his team have learned from the mistakes they made in their Round Eleven loss to the Bulls ahead of the Super 14 Final at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
The Chiefs have won ten of their last eleven matches. Their last loss was however against the Bulls in Pretoria and the last time the men from Waikato tasted victory in the capital was way back in 2001.
There is no denying that Muliaina and his troops will have it all to do in their first ever Super Rugby final, especially considering that the Bulls are unbeaten on home soil in 2009.
The Chiefs have been New Zealand's least-successful Super Rugby side. For too long they have jousted with the play-offs, a rousing run of wins usually getting them close before a late stumble.
In fact, Muliaina is the only member of his squad to have played in a Super 14 final, when he won the competition with the Blues in 2003.
But cohesion and team spirit have been obvious during a string of narrow wins for the Chiefs in recent weeks, something they will have to continue against the rampant Bulls.
"There are a lot of things we can do better [than in the earlier game]," the 28-year-old full-back told Sportal.
"Play at the breakdown, and the way we take ball into contact, is important. We spent a lot of time in their 22 metre area putting on pressure, then lost the ball when it was kicked back downfield.
"There will be a lot of physicality. They have big men out there and that is why we have been concentrating on getting our bodies right.
"We've got to be playing for 80 minutes and keep the foot on the pedal.
"We know what we're in for. It has been sort of weird. We have come over here, a long way from home, and we haven't really found the hype yet.
"At training yesterday we started to lift and this afternoon [Thursday SA time] will give us more of a gauge of how we are doing."
Aside from the array of Springboks in the Bulls team, Muliaina has taken notice of his opposite number Zane Kirchner who has made a big impact this season.
"He's a good, young talented player and his positional play has been outstanding," he said.
"We will be trying to move him around a bit. He is a key player for them and his counter-attacking play is very effective."
The Chiefs will be hoping that the weather suits their attacking game plan and with a hard and fast field, it should. They will also need to score tries which is something they have been struggling with of late.
The Bulls scored more points (36) in last week's semi-final against the Crusaders than the Chiefs have scored in their last two matches. Add the scores of the Chiefs last three outings and you get 40 points, which is just four points more of what the Bulls posted last week.
In their last three matches alone, the Bulls have scored 92 points.
However, defence has been key for the Chiefs in recent weeks and they will be hoping to prevent the Bulls from crossing the whitewash. The problem is that it is very hard to stop drop-goals.
Morne Steyn has been practicing all season and he knows the posts at Loftus Versfeld better than anywhere... Just ask the Crusaders!