The Chiefs were beaten to the punch at the breakdown, and with the Reds in their face all night; their normally fluent back play was in tatters.

Article By: Tony Johnson

The fickle nature of sport was amply demonstrated over the weekend.

A week ago, New Zealand fans were hailing a five game sweep for our sides, and relishing the chance for two of those to pass the Bulls on the table while the boys from Pretoria put their feet up for the weekend.

Seven days down the track and the Bulls are chuckling, still leaders, it’s the Aussies celebrating a sweep (due to the fact the Force weren’t playing) and we Kiwis are contemplating just one win....and that was in an all New Zealand clash.

A week a long time in sport? As Sarah Palin would say, "You betcha".

After a feisty start against the Reds, the Chiefs descended into mediocrity on Friday night.

True, it was not the easiest of tasks to back up for a Friday night game, having arrived back in New Zealand early Monday morning from points west.

But that doesn’t explain away most of the Chiefs shortcomings, nor does it give any credit to a gallant Reds side missing four of its best players.

The Chiefs were beaten to the punch at the breakdown, and with the Reds in their face all night; their normally fluent back play was in tatters. The usually reliable duo of Callum Bruce and Richard Kahui didn’t click, with Kahui suffering from some worrying handling issues.

After some great form over the past three weeks, Stephen Donald also turned in a bit of a dud, when a couple of successful kicks early on might have made the score line seem a lot less chaseable for the Reds.

I doubt the Chiefs will play like that again, but it will take a big improvement to beat a Crusaders team that is not anywhere near top gear yet, but still ticking over pretty well.

Conditions were a lot trickier that they might have appeared for Saturday night’s game in Christchurch, which might account for some of the high-ball errors we saw in the first half.

The game was well in the balance until Rudi Wulf's calamitous pass was intercepted by the alert Ryan Crotty, and from there on it was only a matter of who would get the bonus point. In the end neither did, but I thought despite some of the first half mistakes it was a pretty good game.

I like the look of the Crotty/Robbie Freuan combo.

Crotty has been highly regarded since coming through the age group ranks, while Freuan has got some great skills and pace to go with his awesome power. He is apparently still some way from his physical peak, but when it happens, look out. He is a long shot for next years World Cup and I would be more excited about Robbie Freuan than Sonny Bill Williams, whose minders seem to be trying to spark an auction for his services.

It’s tempting to give the Highlanders and Hurricanes the “less said about them the better” treatment, but you can’t let them off that lightly.

The Hurricanes were poor against the Cheetahs. Their discipline and accuracy were sub standard and their kicking game atrocious, costing them a game they should have won. If they are serious about winning this thing, then they need to get their act together.

And the Highlanders hardly fired a shot. True they were up against an outstanding Stormers defence, but I thought they would be closer than that.

Elsewhere the conspiracy theorists will be having a field day over the Sharks loss to the Brumbies, and those who feel the Durbanites were hard done by will have some justification.

Several dubious calls went the Waratahs way, and there were legitimate claims for a penalty try late in the game.

It’s ironical that the ref was the same Paul Marks who two years ago failed to award an obvious match winning penalty try against the Sharks in Wellington. Last year they beat the Blues when Marius Jonker refused to act on an offside call from his assistant, and then beat the Hurricanes when Jonker didn’t pick up on a quick throw in taken with the wrong ball.

It’s not right that these happen, but it’s hard not to think that the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune might have caught up with the Sharks.