Clinical Chiefs end Queensland Reds’ Super Rugby season with a demolition job in Waikato

The Queensland Reds are looking to future spoils after their season of high expectations and promise ended in disappointment with a 43-21 submission to the Chiefs in the opening Super Rugby Pacific quarter-final in Hamilton.

The ruthless and clinical Chiefs scored four unanswered first-half tries to lead 31-0 at half-time and set up the demolition job on the Reds at FMG Stadium Waikato.

With three wins over New Zealand opposition for the first time since 2013, including a watershed win over defending champions Crusaders in Christchurch and a third-round defeat to Chiefs in Brisbane, the Reds truly believed they were title contenders in 2024.

But their dreams were shattered inside 15 minutes on Friday night as the Chiefs raced to a 21-0 lead through an early try-scoring double from hooker Samisoni Taukei’aho and one from winger Emoni Narawa.

The Queensland Reds had no answers to the Chiefs’ early attack and were gunned down after just 15 minutes

It comes after a season that promised so much but ended in the quarter-finals in Waikato

The Reds threatened a comeback in the second half behind the back of Wallabies number 9 Tate McDermott, but could not close the deficit.

The Chiefs were furious about the slump and dominated physically.

But it was a brilliant chip from master playmaker Damian McKenzie and fullback Shaun Stevenson’s revival and kick-off that set up the Chiefs’ fourth try – finished by Etene Nanai-Seturo – and a match-winning lead at half-time.

Queensland briefly threatened a fightback at the first try of the second half through co-captain and Wallabies No. 9 Tate McDermott.

But normal service resumed when All Blacks ace Anton Lienert-Brown crossed for the Chiefs’ fifth try in the 55th minute to extend the hosts’ insurmountable lead to 38-7.

McDermott grabbed a second for the Reds but it was only a consolation as Queensland captain Liam Wright lamented a lost opportunity.

“There’s a lot to like,” Wright said.

‘Of course we wanted to do it all this year. That’s what every team wants to do.

‘We thought we had the chances, but we just couldn’t take them in this game.

‘But we have come up with some very good guys, we have built nice combinations with new coaches and we are curious to see what this group can continue to produce.

“We just have to keep working harder so that we can be better in these moments.

‘We show parts of it. We’re building a game where we can be competitive and beat good teams like this, like the Chiefs.

“So that’s where we’re trying to go. Tonight it was probably the slump that let us down a bit.”

Retired Chiefs player Sam Cane with son Hudson and wife Harriet Cane were at the game

Queensland will hope to use the 2024 season as a platform for future Super Rugby success

Queensland’s exit from the competition with its tail between its legs makes the ACT Brumbies Australia’s best chance to break the Kiwis’ decade-long trans-Tasman stranglehold on the Super Rugby title.

But in addition to the need to eliminate the Highlanders in Canberra on Saturday, the Brumbies will now rely on the soon-to-be extinct Melbourne Rebels to upset the top-ranked Hurricanes to secure a semi-final at home.

Otherwise the Brumbies head to New Zealand and will have to become the first ever Australian team to win a finals match across the Tasman to stay in the title hunt.

Whoever and wherever they play, Chiefs are confident they can win the competition for the first time since 2012 after falling to the semi-finals last year.

“I have a lot of faith,” Capt. Luke Jacobson said.

“We are preparing at the right time. We’re starting to peak.

‘So you don’t have to do it during the season. It matters in the final, so that’s all we’re aiming for.”