Chiefs maintain Super Rugby Pacific ladder lead after bonus-point win over Fijian Drua

Sunday, 26 April 2026

Quinn Tupaea celebrates his try in the Chiefs’ win over the Fijian Drua in Christchurch on Sunday.

At One NZ Stadium, Christchurch: Chiefs 42 (Brodie McAlister try 13min, Quinn Tupaea try 16min, Jared Proffit try 36min, Cortez Ratima try 38min, Daniel Sinkinson try 45min, Tepaea Cook-Savage try 70min; Damian McKenzie 6 con) Fijian Drua 22 (Mesake Doge try 3min, Kavaia Tagivetaua try 56min, Simione Kuruvoli try 66min; Isaiah Armstrong-Ravula 2 con, pen). HT: 28-10.

The Chiefs will go into their second bye of the Super Rugby Pacific season with their ladder lead intact, after a couple of last-gasp Damian McKenzie plays helped them sign off Super Round in Christchurch with a bonus-point win over the Fijian Drua on Sunday.

In matching the Hurricanes’ five-point collect from 24 hours earlier, Jono Gibbes’ side remain tied on points and still ahead by virtue of ‘most wins’, with the Canes still having a game in hand with five regular-season rounds to play, in what promises to be an intriguing shootout for top spot.

The Chiefs might be thankful for their looming week off, too, after losing a pair of All Blacks in Brodie McAlister (calf) and Leroy Carter (hamstring) in a 42-22 victory which was messy and magnificent in equal measure under the roof at the shiny new One NZ Stadium.

They had McKenzie to thank for keeping their vital extra point in the six-tries-to-three win, after an inspirational long-range 80th-minute chase back to his goal-line to clean up a kick. The little first-five then also bundled bruising flanker Etonia Waqa into touch in the corner after the siren had sounded.

The Fijian Drua perform the iBole cultural challenge prior to their match at One NZ Stadium.

Much earlier on, there had also been another brilliant trysaver from Isaac Hutchinson, with the young Canterbury rep making an excellent Super debut at fullback and doing enough to have experienced halfback Frank Lomani graze the touchline after his brilliantly-timed intercept play.

It was an excellent game for the Chiefs’ back-three unit, which also saw Daniel Sinkinson shine in his first start for the franchise. Fellow wider-training-group member Michael Loft, who notched five caps for the Highlanders last year, found the going a bit tougher in being thrust into more minutes than expected when injected early in the second quarter for Jahrome Brown, who did not return from his HIA.

He wasn’t the only one in the loosies, mind you, with stars of last weekend’s extra-time win over the Canes, Simon Parker and Wallace Sititi, far less of a factor this week, in an expansive contest where the duo were several times left clutching at air by the ferocious Fijians, Sititi missing a whopping nine of his 23 tackle attempts, and Parker four of 16.

As has so often been the case for the Chiefs this year, a powerful scrum was able to ease them into the right areas, while their lineout operated at 100%, and after the Drua had opened the scoring in just the third minute, the hot favourites were able to quickly shoot back in front.

But with the game evenly poised at 14-10 to the Chiefs five minutes before halftime, then came one of the craziest tries you will see, which helped turn the tide in a big way.

Halfback Cortez Ratima looks to unload in his side’s bonus-point victory over the Drua which maintains the Chiefs’ spot at the top of the table.

With Hutchinson grubbering a kick through and the ball coming off Sinkinson’s knee, Drua fullback Ilaisa Droasese gathered then, perhaps believing the ball had come off Sinkinson’s hand and he was under knock-on advantage, proceeded to grubber for himself in-goal, which resulted in him being embarrassingly caught out when prop Jared Proffit came flying through to ground the ball.

The Chiefs went back-to-back to score again through Cortez Ratima, who enjoyed a slick outing in tandem with McKenzie where the pair also crisply set up an early second-half try to Sinkinson, and while the Drua did their utmost to find a way back from a 25-point deficit, it was always going to be too big a hill to climb.

While the battle for top spot is tight, there is now a hefty seven-point gap between third (the last home qualifying final berth) and fourth on the ladder.

That fourth spot is now occupied by the Crusaders, who jumped up two after christening their new stadium with a much-needed victory (a 35-20 bonus-point one) against the Waratahs on Friday night, then watching on as the two other Australian sides tasted defeat on Saturday.

Having gone 4-0 against trans-Tasman opposition prior this season, the Brumbies were blown away from achieving the Kiwi sweep in a 45-12 defeat by the Canes, before the third-placed Blues then held their nerve to pip the Reds 36-33 in what was a second-straight week of Super Point extra-time.

Earlier on Sunday the Highlanders kept their finals hopes alive, notching a scratchy 27-17 victory over Moana Pasifika which lifted them two places to seventh, and three points outside the playoff berths.

Super Rugby Pacific, earlier Rd 11 results

At One NZ Stadium, Christchurch: Crusaders 35 (Dallas McLeod 2, Codie Taylor, Leicester Fainga’anuku, Macca Springer tries; Taha Kemara 4 con, Rivez Reihana con) Waratahs 20 (Sid Harvey, Teddy Wilson tries; Harvey 2 con, 2 pen). HT: 14-13.

At One NZ Stadium, Christchurch: Hurricanes 45 (Fehi Fineanganofo 4, Josh Moorby 2, Jone Rova tries; Ruben Love 5 con) Brumbies 12 (David Feliuai, Corey Toole tries; Tane Edmed con). HT: 19-0.

At One NZ Stadium, Christchurch (after extra time): Blues 36 (Zarn Sullivan 2, Cole Forbes, Dalton Papali’i, Bradley Slater tries; Beauden Barrett 4 con, pen) Reds 33 (Fraser McReight, Harry Wilson, Jock Campbell, Tim Ryan, Louis Werchon tries; Harry McLaughlin-Phillips 3 con, Ben Volavola con). HT: 21-21. FT: 33-33.

At One NZ Stadium, Christchurch: Highlanders 27 (Jonah Lowe, Angus Ta’avao, Adam Lennox tries; Cameron Millar 3 con, 2 pen) Moana Pasifika 17 (Israel Leota, Glen Vaihu, Augustine Pulu tries; William Havili con). HT: 7-10.

Points (games played): Chiefs 36 (10), Hurricanes 36 (9), Blues 33 (10), Crusaders 26 (10), Brumbies 25 (10), Reds 23 (9), Highlanders 20 (7), Waratahs 19 (9), Fijian Drua 16 (10), Force 14 (9), Moana Pasifika 4 (10).