Kahui: Chiefs to "learn" from hiding

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Richard Kahui is confident the Chiefs will be better for the record mauling they were handed in Sunday's Rebel Sport Super 14 final.

The Chiefs were blown off Pretoria's Loftus Versfeld 61-17 by the rampant Bulls; a record score in a Super Rugby final.

While the Chiefs went into the match as underdogs, the magnitude of the Bulls' victory was staggering.

It was the Chiefs' first-ever appearance in a Super Rugby final.

Kahui said while the size of the loss would take time to recover from, he said in the long-term it could be turned into a positive at the Hamilton-based franchise.

"I think it is good to have a taste of finals rugby," Kahui said.

"For all of us, it was something new.

"We can take a lot out of that.

"And also what it is like to come over to a place like this and a team (like the Bulls).

"If you let a team like the Bulls to get their tails up, they are bloody impossible to stop.

"The learning I think out of this, if we don't cherish the ball well enough, teams like this are going to hurt us.

"You can't get back into the game against teams like this."

Kahui said despite the 44-point hiding dished out by the Bulls, the Chiefs could look back on their 2009 campaign with pride.

The Chiefs made the Super Rugby knock-out phase for just the second time.

They showed plenty of ticker in bouncing back from a poor start to the leason, having lost their first three matches of the season.

An increase in depth and maturity also saw them overcome injuries to their All Black contingent throughout the season.

"We played some good rugby this year," Kahui said.

"Overall we are pretty happy with the year, but we are certainly not happy (with the final).

"We might look back in a couple of weeks time and reflect on the season. But at the moment it is a tough pill to swallow."

Kahui was confirmed in the All Blacks' 26-strong squad for the upcoming Iveco Series eight hours after full-time was blown in the final.

Chiefs team-mates Mils Muliaina (who will captain the side), Stephen Donald, Tanerau Latimer, Brendon Leonard and Liam Messam were also rewarded for their strong form in the Super 14 with test call-ups.

Despite opening the scoring with an early try on Sunday morning, the Chiefs had no answer for the intensity the Bulls brought to the match in front of 50,000 fired up fans.

Things went from bad to worse when the Bulls constantly turned Chiefs mistakes into points.

"A couple of turnovers, a couple of intercepts, and they got their tails up," Kahui said.

"When they get going, with their crowd behind them, they are hard to stop. They kept coming at us and we couldn't do anything about it in the end.

"We just needed to get some go-forward ball, it was something that we probably didn't have much of in the first half.

"Then we came off and started doing it, started getting some gains, but then those little turnovers killed us.

"They deserved it, it was a tough pill to swallow. The harder we tried the worse it got. We couldn't do anything about it in the end."