The Chiefs came from being six points behind at half time to earn a 28-12 bonus point Super Rugby victory over South Africa’s Bulls in Hamilton.
The victory moves the Chiefs to the top of the Super Rugby standings above the Crusaders and the Waikato side remain unbeaten after playing five matches.
The Crusaders play the Waratahs in the final match of the round and could take back the lead if they win in Sydney on Sunday.
The Bulls have now won one match from their five matches played.
The Chiefs victory is their third straight win over the Bulls at home as the last time the Pretoria franchise last beat the men from Waikato in 2010.
The Chiefs earned the bonus point from the match as they scored the only three tries in the match – all in the second half which they won 25-3 on the scoreboard.
Despite being well beaten (38-14) last week by the Blues the Bulls started strongly and almost scored the match’s opening try in the second minute.
The Bulls did get the first points as Handre Pollard kicked two penalties before Aaron Cruden put the Chiefs on the board in the 13th minute.
Pollard added a third penalty before half time and it wasn’t until the 50th minute that the first try was scored.
A brilliant kick and chase try from winger Shaun Stevenson which with Cruden’s conversion put the home side into the lead for the first time.
Chiefs fullback Damian McKenzie picked up try from a clever kick through from Tawera Kerr-Barlow gave the Chiefs a comfortable 10 point lead.
The Chiefs bonus point try was scored in the 77th minute when replacement Atu Moli crashed over the line.
While the Bulls delivered a much improved performance compared to last week they are struggling to score tries and have been outscored by 9 tries to two over the last two weekends.
Final Score Chiefs 28 (3) Bulls 12 (9)
Scorers
Chiefs
Tries – S.Stevenson, D.McKenzie,A.Moli
Pen – A.Cruden 3
Con – A Cruden 2
Drop –
Cards –
Bulls
Tries –
Pen – H.Pollard 4
Con –
Drop –
Cards –
Match Officials
Referee: Nick Briant
Assistant Ref 1:Paul Williams
Assistant Ref 2:Cam Stone
TMO : Ben Skeen
Teams
Chiefs
1. Siegfried Fisi’ihoi , 2. Hika Elliot , 3. Nepo Laulala , 4. Dominic Bird , 5. Brodie Retallick , 6. Liam Messam , 7. Sam Cane (co-captain) , 8. Michael Leitch, 9. Tawera Kerr-Barlow , 10. Aaron Cruden (co-captain) , 11. James Lowe , 12. Johnny Faauli , 13. Anton Lienert-Brown , 14. Shaun Stevenson , 15. Damian McKenzie
Replacements : 16. Brayden Mitchell* 17. Kane Hames , 18. Atu Moli , 19. Taleni Seu , 20. Mitchell Karpik, 21. Finlay Christie , 22. Stephen Donald , 23. Solomon Alaimalo ,
*denotes Chiefs debut
Bulls
Jesse Kriel , Travis Ismaiel , Jan Serfontein , Burger Odendaal, Jamba Ulengo , Handré Pollard , Rudy Paige , Arno Botha , Nick de Jager , Ruan Steenkamp , Lood de Jager (43, 5), RG Snyman , Trevor Nyakane , Adriaan Strauss (c,), Pierre Schoeman.
Replacements Edgar Marutlulle Lizo Gqoboka , Jacobie Adriaanse, Jason Jenkins, Jannes Kirsten , Piet van Zyl, Tian Schoeman, Warrick Gelant
