Chiefs vs Rebels

Join us at 4:30pm, as the home team try to extend their unbeaten start to the 2023 season.

The Melbourne Rebels will face the daunting task of taking on the red-hot Chiefs in Hamilton.

45': Stevenson makes it a double just after the break Chiefs 39-17 52': Etene Nanai-Seturo adds to the wild half with a try in the corner Chiefs 44-20 The Chiefs have taken a 44-25 victory over the Melbourne Rebels in Hamilton

The Chiefs are now unbeaten through four rounds of this year's Super Rugby Pacific campaign after putting on a show against the Melbourne Rebels in ...

Without [Brodie Retallick](https://www.rugbypass.com/players/brodie-retallick/), the Chiefs looked to a new-look second row combination for this week’s clash. The second-rower was also busy in attack, and at the set-piece. But Gus Sowakula was kept quiet on the defensive side of the ball. Thompson had a crack at the try-line from about a metre out, and in hindsight was never going to be stopped from there. Ryan was solid at the set-piece, but otherwise went missing during his time out in the middle. Nankivell was in the middle of everything – in the leadup to practically every Chiefs try, the outside centre played a part. Poihipi was in the right place at the right time early in the contest, as he finished the aforementioned 50 metre run from winger Emoni Narawa. Rameka Poihipi has gone from strength to strength since starting for the Chiefs in Super Round. Poihipi did just that, and Narawa made the most of it – gathering the ball, and then dancing with the touchline before crossing in the right corner. The winger ran about 50 metres, beat three defenders, and got the offload off to send his teammate over for the score. Narawa was good in the second 40 as well, but he made his mark before the break. The fullback ran for 40 metre from nine carries, and made a noticeable impact in defence.

Reece Hodge injury adds to Melbourne Rebels pain in 44-25 loss to Super Rugby Pacific leaders.

"Obviously a communicator, a leader, but what I like about him too is he takes the ball to the line and he challenges it. He's very strong in contact, through contact and he's got the skills to throw those (out the) back balls well. "I guess we've got to look at it overall. They're a really strong side." Play on, five points." I think you look at the 20 minutes, second quarter probably is where we let ourselves down and that's probably been a theme throughout our season far. We knew that if we played good rugby, then would give them a good crack. "We definitely came here confident. The Chiefs now travel to Sydney to take on a Waratahs team that coach Clayton McMillan said "looked amazing on paper." [the co-leader of Stan Sport's Australian player of the year standings.](https://wwos.nine.com.au/rugby/australia-2023-wallabies-watch-super-rugby-pacific-star-players-from-round-three/c109ec0c-5329-4ca3-b088-4a97260813cf) [44-25 loss to the pacesetting Chiefs in Hamilton.](https://wwos.nine.com.au/rugby/live-scores/waikato-chiefs-v-melbourne-rebels-super-rugby-pacific-2023/669223330) "We started the game how we wanted to, fast and with good intent, got out to a good lead but ill discipline and just inability to sort of exit, get out of our half hurt us in that first half," Rebels captain Brad Wilkin said.

Chiefs 44. Rebels 25. They rested many of their current All Blacks, but it was a future All Black who played a big role in the Chiefs maintaining their ...

They cooled down from there, with the Rebels the only team to cross in the final 28 minutes to deny the hosts a bonus point, but the damage had been done and the warning clear – it’s going to be tough to beat the Chiefs this season. Winger Emoni Narawa was at his evasive best in the first half and created the Chiefs first try, beating defenders before slipping a ball to second-five Rameka Poihipi, who shortly after returned the favour with a kick through that Narawa collected to put the Chiefs in control. While they were denied a bonus point, the Chiefs have taken four wins from four games to sit comfortably at the top of the ladder, and while this wasn’t their best performance, it also wasn’t their best team on the park.