The Chiefs remain the only unbeaten squad in this year’s Super Rugby Pacific competition after upsetting the Hurricanes at home.
The visitors may have opened the scoring in the ninth minute, but the Hurricanes looked to have the measure of the Chiefs at the half time break.
The Hurricanes 17-8 at the interval, but it was all one-way traffic in the second half.
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The Chiefs dominated in the second 40, putting on 25 unanswered points to run out 33-8 winners at The Cake Tin.
Hurricanes captain Ardie Savea offered an honest assessment of his team’s effort.
“The first half was really good. We did the simple things well,” said Savea.
“I think the second half let us down. Back-to-back mistakes, you can’t do that to a team like the Chiefs and they punished us.
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“It’s a bit disappointing, not taking any points in that second half so it’s tough.
“We can’t stack negative moments, back-to-back. We’re down, about to score, and we’re back on our own try line and we’re leaking points.
“It’s not good enough from us and we’ve talked about that throughout the week, so it’s something mentally we have to check and it’s good we’ve got the bye next week.
“It’s a good time to reflect and reset and come back next week.”
The chart-topping Chiefs led the Hurricanes coming into round eight, but by the end of Friday night, the Brumbies had taken over pole position on the ladder.
That came courtesy of beating the Fijian Drua in the Australian capital, 43-28.
With their win in Wellington, the Chiefs have resumed their spot at the top of the pile over the Brumbies, who have only lost one match from eight contests.
The Brumbies and Hurricanes will both have byes in round nine, something Savea said will be welcomed by the team.
“It’s always nice to be away from footy,” he said.
“It would have been even sweeter if we had got the dub (win) today, so that sucks.
“It’s a good time to I guess switch off, spend some family time, have the boys switch off and come back the following week ready to go.”
Round eight of Super Rugby Pacific will close out with the Waratahs facing the Force in Sydney.
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