{"id":9719,"date":"2012-04-07T03:55:34","date_gmt":"2012-04-07T01:55:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/04\/rugby-chiefs-grind-out-victory-over-force-in-perth\/"},"modified":"2012-04-07T03:55:34","modified_gmt":"2012-04-07T01:55:34","slug":"rugby-chiefs-grind-out-victory-over-force-in-perth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/rugby-chiefs-grind-out-victory-over-force-in-perth\/","title":{"rendered":"Rugby-Chiefs grind out victory over Force in Perth"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

April 6<\/span> (Reuters) – The Waikato Chiefs confirmed their
\nstatus as Super Rugby title contenders with a hard-fought 20-12
\nvictory over the Western Force in Perth on Friday.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Tries from wingers Leila Masaga and Tim Nanai-Williams – the
\nlatter created by an outrageous offload from Sonny Bill Williams
\n– along with 10 points from the boot of flyhalf Aaron Cruden
\ngave the Chiefs their fifth win in six games this season.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The Force, coming off last week’s 45-19 thrashing of the
\nchampion Queensland Reds, were unable to breach the New
\nZealanders’ line and had to be satisfied with four penalties
\nfrom fullback David Harvey.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“It was very tough to get points,” Chiefs skipper Craig
\nClarke said in a pitchside interview. “We did open them up a
\ncouple of times but they scrambled very well. A very tough,
\ngrinding win.”<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

However manfully the Force tackled and however fiercely they
\ncontested the breakdown, however, only a string of handling
\nerrors from the Chiefs talented backline saved the home side
\nfrom a heavier defeat.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Masaga was the standout back in the match with three searing
\nbreaks and he got early reward for his contribution when he
\ncrashed through two tackles to score under the posts 15 minutes
\ninto the match.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The Chiefs continued to attack from all parts of the pitch
\nbut their handling let them down at crucial moments and Harvey
\npunished any infringements with his kicking.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The Force, led from the front by captain and openside
\nflanker David Pocock and Wallabies lock Nathan Sharpe, went in
\nat halftime only a point down but conceded another try eight
\nminutes after the restart.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

A Cruden break got the Chiefs inside the home 22 and quick
\nhands got the ball out to centre Sonny Bill Williams wide out on
\nthe left wing.
\n\u00a0 Continued…<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

April 6 (Reuters) – The Waikato Chiefs confirmed their status as Super Rugby title contenders with a hard-fought 20-12 victory over the Western Force in Perth on Friday. Tries from wingers Leila Masaga and Tim Nanai-Williams – the latter created by an outrageous offload from Sonny Bill Williams – along with 10 points from the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[830,2370,183],"class_list":{"0":"post-9719","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-news","8":"tag-reuters","9":"tag-south-africa-2","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9719\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}