Chiefs comeback falls short against Reds after McKenzie red card Newshub 5 hrs ago
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Fulltime - Reds 40 Chiefs 34
Wrap - Wow. What a crazy game. The Reds were flawless in the first spell and led 12-3 when McKenzie was sent off. The piled on three more tries and the game looked dead.
Trailing 40-8 with a 17 minutes to go, the Chiefs were electric, opening up the Reds at will in the closing stages and almost pulled off a deadset miracle.
The Reds hung on - just - and the Aussies have their first win of Super Rugby Trans-Tasman.
Saturday night, in his 182nd outing for the club, will mark his first start for the Chiefs in 1037 days, dating back to the 2018 quarterfinal defeat to the Hurricanes in Wellington – Messam’s last match in New Zealand before leaving for French club Toulon. A week earlier he had played his final game in Hamilton (off the bench against the Hurricanes), while his last start on home turf was another week before that, when he lined up at No 8 against, coincidentally, the Brumbies. “It is a surreal feel, it’s quite buzzy,” Messam admitted ahead of running back out on FMG Stadium Waikato again, in that blindside flanker role he had made his name so prominently in.
Western Force will host the Chiefs in Perth in the opening round of Super Rugby Trans-Tasman.
Chiefs coach Clayton McMillan is hoping his side’s long trek to Perth can make for a happy homecoming in what he terms will be a ‘battle of the scrappers’ against the Western Force on Saturday night. With a hideous schedule, compounded by making the final of Super Rugby Aotearoa, which will see the Chiefs play 10, or even 11, matches in as many weeks, you can bet none of their squad were exactly jumping for joy at the prospect of boarding an eight-hour flight for their Super Rugby Trans-Tasman opener.