Six-try Chiefs ease to 46-17 victory over Reds
Last Updated: 06/05/17 12:15pm
Stephen Donald scored two tries as the Chiefs hammered the Reds 46-17 in New Plymouth.
The hosts ran in six tries in all at the Yarrow Stadium, to secure their ninth win in 10 outings this season.
However, the Chiefs were forced to recover from a 12-7 deficit inside 20 minutes following tries by Stephen Moore and Eto Nabuli.
Moore went over following a driving maul, while winger Nabuli added a second for the Reds after the winger picked up a loose ball and dived over from close range.
In between, Kane Hames touched down for the Chiefs although it required confirmation from the TMO after it appeared the prop may have come up short of the line.
After Damian McKenzie had added two penalties to his early conversion, the Chiefs took control of the contest with a 36th minute try that was started and finished by Charlie Ngatai.
The centre began the move by running 50 yards and, a number of phases later, he went over the line before McKenzie added the extras to give the Chiefs a 20-12 advantage at half-time.
The contest quickly slipped away from the Reds who conceded two tries inside the opening five minutes of the re-start.
First, Dominic Bird pushed his way over to finish off a move involving Sam Cane, Brodie Retallick and Tawera Kerr-Barlow who fed the try-scoring lock.
Then, shortly afterwards, Donald grabbed his opening try of the fixture which owed much to winger James Lowe who ran 70 yards after breaking from his own 22.
During those eight minutes, either side of half-time, the Chiefs had weighed in with 19 unanswered points which turned the game in their favour.
Nine minutes later Donald went over again, following a scrum, with Atu Moli feeding Kerr-Barlow who claimed his second assist of the game.
The Reds did manage a third try on the hour, with centre Campbell Magnay crashing over on the counter-attack after good work by Nabuli.
But back came the home side eight minutes from time with Lowe holding off Cooper, before breaking clear to touchdown close to the posts. McKenzie's easy conversion brought up 16 points for the full-back.
