Chiefs seek urgency against Bulls

Mar 28, 2017 - 12:55 AM The unbeaten Chiefs hope a week off will translate to urgency when they face the struggling Bulls in Hamilton.

Chiefs coach Dave Rennie says his Super Rugby team had plenty to work on during their bye week, following the patchy 27-14 bonus point win over the Rebels in Melbourne.

Rennie admits his side struggled in Victoria after the intensity required to overcome a trio of New Zealand teams to start the season.

"It's not easy fronting every week and getting up for three big kiwi derbies is draining," Rennie said.

"We made changes in personnel to make sure we had a little bit of an edge (in Melbourne) and we got it in the last five minutes so we will have to be a lot better this week."

The Chiefs remain one of three unbeaten teams this season, along with competition leaders the Crusaders and the Stormers.

The Bulls are languishing at the bottom of their conference and are 14th on the overall table with three losses from four.

They were run off their feet in the second half to succumb 38-14 to the Blues on Saturday.

The Chiefs won't have much sympathy, having lost 28-7 to the Pretoria-based outfit in a pre-season match in Brisbane.

"They dominated us physically in that game and put us under a lot of pressure with their line speed so they will probably take a bit of confidence from that into this weekend," Rennie said.

Rennie confirmed the Chiefs will be without Tim Nanai Williams until the end of April after he dislocated his shoulder, while winger Toni Pulu is a doubtful starter this weekend after suffering a hamstring injury.

Source: AAP