Chiefs (rugby union)

Chiefs

Union	New Zealand Rugby Union
Founded	1996
Location	Hamilton, New Zealand
Region	Bay of Plenty Counties Manukau King Country Thames Valley Waikato Taranaki
Ground(s)	Waikato Stadium (Capacity: 26,000)
Director of Rugby	Warren Gatland
Coach(es)	Clayton McMillan
Captain(s)	Sam Cane Brad Weber
Most caps	Liam Messam (182)
Top scorer	Damian McKenzie (882)
League(s)	Super Rugby
2021	Super Rugby Aotearoa 2nd (Runners-up) Super Rugby Trans-Tasman 5th
Team kit 2nd kit
Official website
www.chiefs.co.nz

The Chiefs (formerly known as the Waikato Chiefs and officially called the Gallagher Chiefs for sponsorship reasons) are a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Hamilton, New Zealand. The team competes in the Super Rugby competition, previously known as the Super 12 and Super 14, and are one of the competition's five New Zealand teams. Their primary home ground is Waikato Stadium.

Until 2004, the Chiefs were the only New Zealand side never to have qualified for the Super 12 semi-finals. In that year the Chiefs earned their first semi-final berth, and in the end achieved fourth place (defeated 37–20 in the semi-final by the ACT Brumbies). They subsequently reached the 2009 final, but found themselves on the short end of a record 61–17 defeat by the Bulls.

The Chiefs were rewarded with a home final after a strong 2012 season. The Chiefs defeated the Sharks 37–6, winning their first title. In 2013, the Chiefs became the fourth team to record back-to-back title wins, when they defeated the Brumbies 27–22 at Waikato Stadium.

History[]

The Chiefs were founded in 1996 as the Waikato Chiefs for the inaugural Super 12 season in 1996. Prior to the Super 12, the Super 10 competition had been in place, which NPC teams took part in, including Waikato. In the first year of competition the Chiefs placed 6th in the overall standings, missing out on making the finals; winning 6 of their 11 regular season matches. The following season the Chiefs placed 11th, winning 4 games and losing 7. In 1998 the Chiefs performed closer to the standard of their 1996 season and placed at 7th in the final standings. In 1999 the side were able to do one better and claimed 6th position on the ladder but were still yet to make the playoffs.

In 2000 the Chiefs won 3 of their regular season games and finished the regular season in 10th place. The following season the team equalled their best position again – finishing 6th. In 2002 the team won 4 games and lost 7 to finish in 8th position, and the season after, 2003 Super 12 season, fell to a 10th-place finish. But the season after, the Chiefs won 7 regular season games and came 4th on the ladder – claiming the first semi-final spot in their history. The Chiefs lost the semi-final against the Brumbies. In 2005 the team finished 6th. In 2006, the Super 12 expanded to the Super 14, with the addition of a new Australian and South African club. The Chiefs won 7 of their 13 games and drew once with 5 losses to come 7th. In 2009, the Chiefs made their second ever semi-final, defeating the Hurricanes 14 – 10 to advance to the final for the first time. They lost the final to the Bulls by the biggest-ever margin of 61–17. In the 2010 and 2011 seasons, they were unable to replicate their form of 2009, missing the playoffs in both seasons.

In 2012, following the disappointing results of previous years, the Chiefs underwent a significant change in personnel. This included the recruitment of new coaches, including Dave Rennie and Wayne Smith, and players, including Aaron Cruden, Ben Tameifuna, Brodie Retallick and Sonny Bill Williams. The changes had an immediate impact as the Chiefs finished at the top of the New Zealand conference, qualifying for a home semi-final, which they won, defeating the Crusaders 20–17. They subsequently hosted the final for the first time in the teams's history, comprehensively defeating the Sharks by 37 – 6, claiming their first title. They also set many club records in the 2012 season, including: most home wins, best home streak, best season winning streak, and most points and tries scored.^[1]

In 2013, the Chiefs again won the Super Rugby title and the New Zealand conference with a regular-season record of 12 wins and four losses. They also won the BNZ Cup, a new trophy established by the NZRU for the New Zealand side with the best record in intra-conference matches.

In 2016 the Chiefs played a touring Wales side, winning the one-off encounter 40-7. In doing so they became the first New Zealand Super Rugby franchise to defeat an international team.^[2]

In 2017 the Chiefs played the British and Irish Lions side in Hamilton, losing the encounter 34-6. In the regular season, they finished 3rd in the NZ conference and 6th overall, putting them through to the play offs. They won a thriller quarter final against the Stormers in Cape Town (17-11) but lost in the semi finals to the Crusaders (27-13)

In 2018 the Chiefs finished 3rd in the NZ conference and 5th overall. This result put them through to the quarter finals, in which they lost a tight battle against the Hurricanes (32-31)

The Chiefs didn't have a great start to the 2019 season, losing 4 games straight of the bat, including a loss to the Sunwolves (30-15). However, the Chiefs redeemed themselves by defeating the Bulls 56-20 and going on to win more. They ended up finishing 3rd in the NZ conference and 7th overall, which put them through to the quarter finals. However, the Chiefs would lose to the Jaguares 21-16 in Buenos Aires

After 7 rounds in 2020, the Chiefs were 3rd in the NZ conference and 5th overall. However, the COVID-19 pandemic suspended the 2020 Super Rugby season from going ahead, for travel and health reasons. Despite this, NZRU created a domestic Super Rugby tournament called Super Rugby Aotearoa, which started in June 2020. The Chiefs played well but didn't win a single game in Super Rugby Aotearoa 2020.

The Chiefs lost their first 2 games of Super Rugby Aotearoa in 2021, and then got their first win in the competition against the Hurricanes (35-29) and now the Chiefs are currently on a 5 game win streak, defeating the Blues (15-12), Highlanders (26-23), Crusaders (26-25) and Hurricanes (26-24) and have qualified for the final against the Crusaders.

Franchise area and ownership[]

Franchise area[]

Since 1999, the Chiefs have represented the provincial unions of Bay of Plenty, Counties Manukau, King Country, Taranaki, Thames Valley and Waikato.

From 1996 to 1998 the Chiefs also represented North Harbour and Northland, with Counties Manukau and Thames Valley falling under the Auckland Blues catchment. Had the Blues been allowed to represent the Auckland, North Harbour, Counties Manukau and Northland unions, they would have been able to field almost a full national team due to player contracting rules at the time. In an effort by the NZRU to make things more fair, the Chiefs were given North Harbour and Northland, while the Blues were given Counties Manukau and Thames Valley. By 1999, clear regional dominance of national team players no longer existed, so North Harbour and Northland were 'returned' to the Blues in exchange for Counties Manukau and Thames Valley.

Taranaki was originally part of the Hurricanes from 1996, but switched to the Chiefs in 2013.^[3]

Ownership[]

The Chiefs are a wholly owned subsidiary of the NZRU. However, in an effort to bring more capital into the sport, the NZRU established a system of privatised operation in 2013. In 2014, it was announced that a new entity, 'Chiefs Rugby Club Limited Partnership', had been established, with the NZRU granting the newly formed company a seven-year licence, until the end of the 2020 season, to operate the club. Chiefs Rugby Club itself is 50% owned by the provincial unions within the Chiefs' catchment and 50% by a group of private investors .^[4] As part of the Taranaki Rugby Union's investment, the Chiefs will hold two matches per year at Yarrow Stadium in New Plymouth.

Grounds[]

Hamilton	New Plymouth	Rotorua	Pukekohe	Mount Maunganui
Waikato Stadium	Yarrow Stadium	Rotorua Int'l Stadium	Navigation Homes Stadium	ASB Baypark Stadium
Capacity: 26,000	Capacity: 26,000	Capacity: 26,000	Capacity: 12,000	Capacity: 19,800

Development team[]

The Chiefs have fielded a development team in competitions such as the Pacific Rugby Cup and in matches against other representative teams for several seasons. Known as the Chiefs Development XV, the squad is selected from the best emerging rugby talent in the Chiefs catchment area and is composed of Chiefs contracted players, wider training group members, under 20s, and selected club players.^[5][6]

Records and achievements[]

Super Rugby placings[]

Super Rugby Results
Year	Played	Win	Draw	Loss	PF	PA	Diff	BP	Points	Place	Playoffs
1996	11	6	0	5	291	269	+22	4	28	6th
1997	11	4	0	7	272	295	−23	3	19	11th
1998	11	6	0	5	279	291	−12	5	29	7th
1999	11	5	0	6	248	301	−53	6	26	6th
	11	3	0	8	257	352	−95	8	20	10th
	11	6	0	5	301	330	−29	4	28	6th
	11	4	0	7	323	341	−18	8	24	8th
	11	2	0	9	257	274	−17	9	17	10th
	11	7	0	4	274	251	+23	5	33	4th	Lost semi-final to Brumbies
	11	5	1	5	272	250	+22	6	28	6th
	13	7	1	5	325	298	+27	6	36	7th
	13	7	1	5	373	321	+52	10	40	6th
	13	7	0	6	348	349	−1	6	34	7th
	13	9	0	4	338	236	+102	9	45	2nd	Lost final to Bulls
	13	4	1	8	340	418	−78	8	26	11th
	16	6	1	9	332	348	−16	4	40	10th
2012	16	12	0	4	444	358	+86	8	64	1st	Defeated Sharks in final
2013	16	12	0	4	458	364	+94	10	66	1st	Defeated Brumbies in final
2014	16	8	2	6	384	378	+6	8	44	5th	Lost qualifier to Brumbies
2015	16	10	0	6	372	299	+73	8	48	5th	Lost qualifier to Highlanders
	15	11	0	4	491	341	+150	7	51	6th	Lost semifinal to Hurricanes
	15	12	1	2	433	292	+141	7	51	6th	Lost semifinal to Crusaders
	16	11	0	5	463	368	+95	5	49	5th	Lost quarterfinal to Hurricanes
	16	7	2	7	451	465	−14	4	36	7th	Lost quarterfinal to Jaguares

Results per opposition[]

Chiefs Super Rugby results vs different opponents [1]

Super Rugby
Opposition	Span	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Win%
Blues	1996–2021	37	22	1	14	59.5.6%
Crusaders	1996–2021	41	16	0	25	39.0%
Highlanders	1996–2021	37	19	1	17	51.4%
Hurricanes	1996–2021	40	17	2	21	42.5%
Brumbies	1996–2021	28	12	1	15	42.9%
Force	2006–2021	12	10	0	2	83.3%
Rebels	2011–2021	8	7	0	1	87.5%
Reds	1996–2021	24	13	0	11	54.2%
Waratahs	1996–2021	24	11	0	13	45.8%
Bulls	1996–2019	23	13	2	8	56.5%
Cheetahs	1997–2017	11	7	3	1	63.6%
Lions	1996–2018	20	13	0	7	65.0%
Sharks	1996–2019	23	12	0	11	52.1%
Southern Kings	2013–2016	2	2	0	0	100.0%
Stormers	1996–2019	22	12	0	10	54.5%
Jaguares	2016–2019	4	2	0	2	50.0%
Sunwolves	2017–2020	4	3	0	1	75.0%
Overall	1996–2020	357	191	10	150	53.5%
Updated to: 15 March 2020

Honours[]

Super Rugby (1996–present)[]

Brisbane Global Tens[]

• Champions (1)

2017

Current squad[]

The squad for the 2022 Super Rugby Pacific season is:^[7]

Chiefs Super Rugby squad
Props Sione Mafileo Atu Moli Reuben O'Neill Ollie Norris Aidan Ross Angus Ta'avao Hookers Bradley Slater Samisoni Taukei'aho Tyrone Thompson Locks Naitoa Ah Kuoi Josh Lord Laghlan McWhannell Brodie Retallick Tupou Vaa'i	Loose forwards Kaylum Boshier Mitchell Brown Sam Cane (cc) Samipeni Finau Luke Jacobson Simon Parker Pita Gus Sowakula Halfbacks (Scrum-halves) Cortez Ratima Xavier Roe Brad Weber (cc) First Five-Eighths (Fly-halves) Bryn Gatland Josh Ioane Rivez Reihana Kaleb Trask	Midfielders (Centres) Anton Lienert-Brown Alex Nankivell Rameka Poihipi Quinn Tupaea Gideon Wrampling Outside Backs Jonah Lowe Etene Nanai-Seturo Emoni Narawa Shaun Stevenson Chase Tiatia
(cc) Denotes team co-captains, Bold denotes internationally capped, WTS denotes a wider training squad player, ST denotes a short-term signing, denotes a player ruled out for the season with injury.

Current coaches and management[]

Head coach[]

• Clayton McMillan^[8]

Assistant coaches[]

• David Hill (Assistant Coach)
• Neil Barnes (Forwards)
• Roger Randle (Attack)
• Nick White (Scrum)

Performance analysts[]

• Regan Hall
• Mark Roberts

Former coaches and captains[]

Coaches[]

Chiefs coaches by date, matches and win percentage*

Coach	Period	G	W	D	L	%
Brad Meurant	1996-1997	22	10	0	12	045.45
Ross Cooper	1998–2000	33	14	0	19	042.42
John Mitchell	2001	11	6	0	5	054.55
Kevin Greene	2002–2003	22	6	0	16	027.27
Ian Foster	2004–2011	103	52	5	46	050.49
Dave Rennie	2012–2017	94	65	3	26	069.15
Colin Cooper	2018–2019	32	18	2	12	056.25
Warren Gatland	2020	14	4	0	10	028.57
Clayton McMillan	2021–	13	9	0	4	069.23
Totals (1996–present)*		336	184	10	142	054.76
Updated to: 13 June 2021

Notes:

Captains[]

• Richard Turner (1996)
• Ian Jones (1997)
• Errol Brain (1998)
• Michael Collins (1999)
• Glenn Taylor (2000)
• Deon Muir (2001–2002)
• Jono Gibbes (2002–2008)
• Mils Muliaina (2008–2011)
• Liam Messam (2011–2015)
• Craig Clarke (2012–2013)
• Aaron Cruden (2014–2017)
• Brodie Retallick (2014, 2019)
• Sam Cane (2016–present)
• Charlie Ngatai (2018)
• Brad Weber (2021–present)

Women's team[]

The Chiefs Women's team (known as the Waitomo Chiefs Manawa for sponsorship reasons) competes in Super Rugby Aupiki, after it was announced that a 15-a-side New Zealand women's rugby competition was to be played from 2021 and beyond.^[9] The team had previously competed in a one off match against the Blues in May 2021.^[10] The team is currently coached by Allan Bunting.^[11]

On 3 November 2021, the squad for the Super Rugby Aupiki was announced.^[12]

Chiefs Super Rugby Aupiki squad
Props Tanya Kalounivale Angel Mulu Awhina Tangen-Wainohu Santo Taumata Jayjay Taylor Hookers Luka Connor Grace Houpapa-Barrett Locks Victoria Edmonds Chyna Hohepa Kelsie Wills	Loose Forwards Les Elder Kendra Reynolds Kennedy Simon Pia Tapsell Harono Te Iringa Halfbacks (Scrum-halves) Ariana Bayler Maia Joseph Arihiana Marino-Tauhinu First Five-Eighths (Fly-halves) Kelly Brazier Hazel Tubic	Midfielders (Centres) Chelsea Alley Georgia Daals Portia Woodman Outside Backs Stacey Fluhler Carla Hohepa Ruby Tui Renee Wickcliffe
(cc) Denotes team co-captains, Bold denotes internationally capped, SP denotes a shadow player and ST indicated short-term cover.

References[]

External links[]

• Official website
• SANZAAR Super Rugby website
• Chiefs Rugby on Facebook