Ruthless Chiefs not playing ‘where’s Wally?’

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The Chiefs say they’ve proven they can be a force in Super Rugby Pacific without star player Wallace Sititi after blowing away the Crusaders by a record scoreline.

The Chiefs racked up five tries in the final half-hour to win 49-25 in Hamilton on Friday and make it two-from-two in 2025. It followed a season opening 25-14 upset of defending champions, the Blues, in a repeat of last year’s final.

Centre Quinn Tupaea scored the last two tries to complete the home side’s rousing finish, with the Crusaders having drawn level at 17-17 soon after the interval. It was the Chiefs’ highest score and biggest winning margin in 50 matches against the Crusaders.

An impressive result given a number of the Chiefs’ All Blacks are yet to appear, including flanker Sititi, who was ruled out for the Super Rugby season after undergoing knee surgery in January.

The 22-year-old was named Breakthrough Player of the Year at the World Rugby awards in December following his brilliant maiden season for the All Blacks.

However, the Chiefs have barely missed his dynamic contributions, with unheralded replacement Simon Parker among their best players through the first two rounds, according to coach Clayton McMillan.

“One thing I’m really glad about is that a name we haven’t heard in the first two weeks is Wallace Sititi,” McMillan told journalists. “People have been saying ’oh, we can’t perform without Wallace Sititi’.

“We’d love Wallace to be out there but other people are stepping up to show they can play as well.

“Simon had some massive moments. Really happy for him because he’s had to play second-fiddle to some of the blokes who have been running around for us but he was always earmarked as somebody with a lot of talent.”

McMillan said his team will be challenged to maintain their perfect start when hosting Australian opponents the Brumbies next week. “If we don’t respect what’s in front of us, we’ll get our pants pulled down.”

Crusaders coach Rob Penney said the depth of his injury-hit side was exposed in the latter stages. Their cause wasn’t helped by the early exit of prop Fletcher Newell following a head knock.

“We were sort of just hanging on and once the momentum shifted, the Chiefs are good enough to capitalise. They’ve got quality across their squad. They were terrific last week too and they executed really well.”

The 12-time champion Crusaders beat the Hurricanes last week as they try to rebound from last year’s disappointment of missing the play-offs for the first time since 2015.

© Agence France-Presse

Photo: Phil Walter/Getty Images

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