The high-flying Chiefs continued their impressive charge up the Super 14 standings when they smashed a sorry-looking Reds team 50-26 in Brisbane on Saturday.

The six tries to four victory saw the Chiefs move into second place on the standings — just ahead of the Bulls, who lost their first game earlier in the day — edging the Bulls on points difference.

Apart from the first five minutes or so, when the Reds looked dangerous with ball in hand, the flow of the game went with the Chiefs — who exposed the Reds' porous defence with their sublime skills and strong running.

The Chiefs are not just the form team in the tournament, but also the most entertaining — their support play making them the most dangerous with ball in hand.

The Reds had their moments, but at times were too lateral and didn't always protect the ball — proving the Chiefs with plenty of opportunities to counter and effectively handing the game to them on a platter.

Berrick Barnes had an early opportunity to put points on the board, but his penalty shot bounced off the upright.

And soon afterwards a second scoring chance went begging, as wing Blair Connor lost the ball while stretching for the line.

It was indeed the Chiefs who scored first, as they showed just how dangerous they can be — from a turnover inside their own 22, it was quick hands that put flyhalf Stephen Donald into space and he sprinted clear to round off an 80-metre try. Donald hooked the conversion, but the 5-0 lead was a big blow to the Reds, who had dominated the first five minutes of the game.

And the Chiefs' dangerous backs put their sublime skills on display again just minutes later — a sweetly struck cross-field kick from Donald gave the ball to Mils Muliaina, who offloaded to Richard Kahui. He in turn took out two defenders and then put Sitiveni Sivivatu into space, with Sivivatu stepping past the last few defenders for the second try.

Donald's conversion made it 12-0 — an unexpectedly big lead, considering that up to that stage the Reds had enjoyed 70 percent of the possession.

Sivivatu was denied a try — by some shocking officiating from both the referee and his touch judge — but he was soon over for his second (and what should have been the hat-trick) try when Callum Bruce put him into space. Donald's conversion made it 19-0 and the Reds started to look like a beaten team already.

Unfortunately Sivivatu had to leave the field with what appeared to be a wrist and shoulders injury - having jolted his arm when he planted the ball during the disallowed try.

And his replacement, Dwayne Sweeney, was yellow carded within a minute after coming onto the field — for tackling Blair Connor in the air.

The Reds responded with a try by hooker Sean Hardman — coming after some strong driving play by the forwards. Barnes added the conversion and at 7-19 the Reds at least had some reward for their early endeavour.

Donald had a shot at goal, when the Reds went offside, to make it 22-7 after 24 minutes.

But the Reds continued their comeback, when Berrick Barnes scored in the 25th minute — a try created initially by a strong bust from Digby Ioane and then good hands to put Barnes into space. Barnes couldn't add the extras, but at least they had closed the gap to 10 points (12-22).

Moments later Donald had another shot at goal, again a penalty for offside against the Reds, and he made no mistake — 25-12 to the Chiefs.

The Chiefs' backs continued to cause havoc, with the bonus-point try coming in the 36th minute — Mils Muliaina running onto a beautifully-weighted cross-field kick from Donald and sprinting over for an easy five-pointer. The conversion was wide, but at 30-12 the Chiefs had again put daylight between them and the Reds on the scoreboard.

And it got worse for the Reds just before the break, when the Chiefs put it through the hands from a turnover and the replacement, Sweeney, now back on the field, sprinted into a big hole and over for the fifth try.

Donald added the conversion for a 37-12 lead at the break.

As they did in the first half, the Reds made a strong start to the second period, but a TMO call went against them as Ioane raced into the in-goal area and just failed to touch the ball down in time before it went touch-in-goal.

And, as was the case in the first half, the Chiefs scored first when Donald kicked his third penalty to make it 40-12.

The Reds did eventually get on the scoreboard, in the 54th minute — with Mark McLinden scoring from a move that was initiated by replacement Rod Davies and polished off by Barnes — who also added the conversion to make it 40-19.

But a penalty by Donald soon afterwards, after a no-arms tackle, ensured that the margin remained too big for the Reds to close - 43-19.

Replacement Mike Delany had another shot in the 64th minute, but he hooked it wide of the upright.

With 10 minutes to go Muliaina scored his second try of the game, after another scintillating counter from a turnover and Delany added the conversion to put 50 points (50-19) up on the board.

The Reds at least got a bonus point out of it, as Daniel Braid pounced on a poor line-out throw and flopped over the line for his team's fourth try. Replacement Brendan McKibbin added the conversion, but at 26-50 it was the bonus-point (for four tries) that was the biggest consolation from a game in which the Reds were completely outplayed.

Man of the match: You can give it to any of the Chiefs' backline players, or even number eight Sione Lauaki, but our award goes to Chiefs fullback Mils Muliaina for his sublime display of sound defence, brilliant attacking skills and a great kicking game.

The scorers:

For the Reds:
Tries: Hardman, Barnes, McLinden, Braid
Cons: Barnes 2, McKibbin

For the Chiefs:
Tries: Donald, Sivivatu 2, Muliaina 2, Sweeney
Cons: Donald 3, Delany
Pens: Donald 4

Yellow card: Dwayne Sweeney (Chiefs, 17 - foul play, tackled player in the air)

Teams:

Reds: 15 Mark McLinden, 14 Blair Connor, 13 Digby Ioane, 12 Berrick Barnes, 11 Peter Hynes, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Ben Lucas, 8 Leroy Houston, 7 Daniel Braid, 6 Hugh McMeniman, 5 James Horwill (captain), 4 Van Humphries, 3 Laurie Weeks, 2 Sean Hardman, 1 Ben Daley.
Replacements: 16 Saia Faingaa, 17 Jack Kennedy, 18 Scott Higginbotham, 19 Poutasi Luafutu, 20 Brendan McKibbin, 21 Anthony Faingaa, 22 Rod Davies.

Chiefs: 15 Mils Muliaina (captain), 14 Lelia Masaga, 13 Richard Kahui, 12 Callum Bruce, 11 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 10 Stephen Donald, 9 Brendon Leonard, 8 Sione Lauaki, 7 Tanerau Latimer, 6 Liam Messam, 5 Kevin O'Neill, 4 Craig Clarke, 3 Ben May, 2 Hikawera Elliot, 1 Sona Taumalolo.
Replacements: 16 Aled de Malmanche, 17 James McGougan, 18 Toby Lynn, 19 Serge Lilo, 20 Toby Morland, 21 Mike Delany, 22 Dwayne Sweeney.

Referee: Ian Smith (Australia)
Touch judges: Nathan Pearce (Australia), Simon Moore (Australia)
TMO: Geoff Acton (Australia)

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