The hosts, having dominated the regular season, head into this one as hot favourites to march onto the final but they will need to be wary of a Brumbies side that has shown they can mix it with the Kiwi big guns this term.
Saturday 17 June
Chiefs 2/9 | Draw 25/1 | Brumbies 33/10
Handicap TBA*
The hosts are favorites for good reason here with Waikato’s finest cruising through the regular season as they registered 13 wins from their 14 games to top the pops by 11 points.
Last weekend saw them square off with the only side who managed to beat their during the regular season, the Queensland Reds. While they were tested by the Reds again, they did manage to get the job done, running out 29-20 victors.
Damien McKenzie was once again at the forefront of everything good for the Chiefs. The All Black, despite the Reds keeping close tabs on him, still manage to make in excess of 100 running metres and was solid off the tee. He will once again be the key man for the Chiefs this weekend.
The Brumbies were given an almighty scare by the Hurricanes during their quarter-final clash with a controversial decision not to award Ardie Savea a late try being the difference between the two sides. The clash was an absolute titanic affair with the sides trading the lead on multiple occasions. The Brumbies would eventually scrap a 37-33 win and book their place in this weekend’s semi.
Key for the Brumbies last weekend was centre Len Ikitau who bagged a try of his own and set up another. He was rock solid in defence and the Brumbies will need him to repeat the does if they are to make the Grand Final.
Last weekend’s clash will have a taken a lot out of the Brumbies and I can see them struggling during the final quarter of their clash with the Chiefs due to fatigue. As such, I’m on the hosts to clear the handicap here.
Chiefs to clear handicap.
