Some beer, then more hard work for Chiefs

WELLINGTON: The Chiefs will take a couple of days and drink a couple of beers before beginning the hard work of extending their hegemony over southern hemisphere provincial rugby for a third successive year, according to coach Dave Rennie.

The cow bells rang out in celebration over Hamilton for the second year in a row on Saturday night as the New Zealanders won back-to-back Super Rugby titles with a gutsy 27-22 comeback win over the Brumbies.

That put them in exalted company with the Blues, the Crusaders, the Bulls and the Brumbies as multiple winners of the competition.

Self-effacing Rennie, who along with the rest of his coaching staff typically declined to join their players on the podium during the trophy presentation, is clearly not a great one for highfalutin talk of dynasties, though.

“Ah, it’s such a tough comp, dynasties are the sort of thing you look back on afterwards,” Rennie told a news conference.

“We’ve won a couple of titles, next year will be about realising how hard we’ve had to work to achieve what we’ve done, and trying and replicate that. We’ll worry about those sort of things after a couple of beers over the next couple of days.”

Having unquestionably proved that 2012 was not a fluke, nor just about the contri- bution of All Blacks centre Sonny Bill Williams, Rennie was asked whether he thought the team would now get the respect they deserved.

“I don’t even care to be honest, it’s more about what happens within our group,” he said. “We’re really satisfied. It’s a tough tournament, you’ve got to be good and consistent for long periods.”

Despite their success, in the All Blacks squad named on Sunday, the Chiefs had two fewer players than the Crusaders, the same number as the Hurricanes and only two more than the hapless Highlanders.

An indication that Rennie does indeed care about respect, on that level at least, came when he was asked to give some valedictory comments on his captain Craig Clarke, who is leaving for Ireland at the end of the season.

“I will miss him heaps, it’s not just his ability on the field but obviously his leadership and he’s a bloody good man,” Rennie said of the uncapped lock. “It’s a pity he’s leaving. He’s obviously good enough to wear a black jersey and erm, you know ...” he added, trailing off as discretion won out.

Earning the right to play the final at home by topping the regular season standings had been one key factor, he said, and another had been the quality of players coming off the bench as the Chiefs chased the match in the final quarter. – Reuters