Zac Djellab

And I think, you know, they kind of made the Crusaders make uncharacteristic mistakes in that first half, and they pounced on them.

So you look at the Chiefs, the first half, with how they played, the Hurricanes in the second half, it was a battle of two halves, I guess, in those first two semifinal matches.

I think they had 42 kicks for over 1,000 metres.

That was mixed in with attacking kicks.

They loved to kick long with Damien McKenzie and using the boot to be able to get out of the exit zone area.

I think even Cortes and Atema as well, off their points in general inside the 22, had some really good pay making some exit spell, get out of their half and, I guess, not give opportunities inside the 22 there.

for the Crusaders.

But to your point, Jip, around the attacking kicks early on, especially from Damian McKenzie, with that high line speed, as you know, if you put in those little attacking kicks, and especially if they do work and you get pay, like Kyron Tomoi-Fallal kicks it in behind and scores an individual great try, but Damian McKenzie early on to be able to stunt that defensive pressure, then you get the ability to be able to attack with what we kind of saw in that first 30, 35 minutes from the Chiefs.

But at the same time, Ho had a big...

talk to that forward pack because their breakdown and their physicality work from the Chiefs kind of really set it up all nicely as well along with their set piece and no doubt we'll talk about that going forward in the Hurricanes battle but their set piece has been a big part of why they've been so successful this year as well.

And if you look at both of the teams, the Hurricanes and the Chiefs on the weekend, there were nine turnovers when it came to the breakdown area for the Hurricanes and five turnovers for the Chiefs which they pretty much won their battle in those breakdown turnovers against the Crusaders and the Blues.

you know i know we're probably just going back and forth around preview previewing it but like that breakdown area jipper is just going to be so big like the collision area is just going to be mouth-watering if you're a purist and you love watching breakdowns and hitting it i think both teams are going to have their moments but what i love about both of them and especially with what i saw with the hurricanes like they're just back-to-back repeated efforts like they just keep working off the ball it's a next job it's a next task if it's a if it's a tackle it's getting up it's giving a second effort to be able to try and make their ruck messy or counter rucking off a kick like

Yeah, I think for me, more so around that area, that's just going to be a really enticing battle because both of them won them pretty convincingly on the weekend against the Blues and the Crusaders.

If you're looking at the weekend in the most heightened pressure situation like the breakdown area and all the players in terms of like probably their forward packs are winning collisions more consistently than the other teams and that is a big part of why these two teams are in the final.

Look, I think the efficiency of when they do get their opportunities, whether it's counter-attack, both teams can counter-attack.

You saw Coombs fabling, you saw Curranton and Tamoifalao, and you saw the Hurricanes on the weekend.

They scored four of their nine tries off counter-attack.

So when it comes to counter-attack, it's a big day now, both of those teams.

So those would be probably the two areas that I do see with the similarities.

But I think the breakdown area, Ross, if I'm being brutally honest,