Waikato Chiefs continued their march towards a Super 12 semi-final berth after scraping past the Northern Bulls 24-22 in a come-from-behind win on Friday.
The slim victory took them to 32 points, and with one round remaining the perennial strugglers of the competition are on the brink of their first appearance in the play-offs. Despite gaining a bonus point, South Africa's Bulls hopes of reaching the semi-finals appear dashed as they languish mid-table on 23 points.
The visiting Bulls led for 70 minutes at Waikato Stadium, stunning the Chiefs with three quick tries to lead 19-3 after 25 minutes. The Chiefs had opened the scoring early with a Glen Jackson penalty, but were soon stung after Bulls' winger Sam Willard skidded over in the corner.
The Bulls crossed again in 15th minute when Bakkies Botha waltzed through the defence to score under the posts. Willem de Waal converted to make it 12-3 and again added the extras nine minutes later after lock Ettienne Botha broke from the base of ruck just outside the 22-metre line, beat fullback Todd Miller and dragged a Chief's defender over the line.
The Chiefs fought back and Michael Collins scored just before halftime to make it 19-10 at the break. Three minutes into the second period Chiefs captain Jono Gibbes crashed over to score. Jackson reduced the Bulls lead to one with a penalty 10 minutes later, but Derick Hougaard replied to extend the lead to 22-18.
Jackson was again on target to trim the lead to a single point again after Bulls No 6 Piet Krause was sinbinned for slowing play down. And with 10 minutes left another sinbinning, this time of replacement forward Jacques Cronje for infringing in the ruck, saw David Hill slot a penalty that closed out the scoring to seal the Chiefs' seventh victory of the season.
- AFP 2004