Chiefs dig themselves into "hole" with their 0-3 start to Super Rugby season

The Waikato Chiefs have dug themselves into a "hole" with their 0-3 start to the Super Rugby season, leaving players and staff asking uncomfortable questions of each other, coach Colin Cooper has said. The twice champions' tailspin quickened in Hamilton on Saturday as they crumbled to a 30-15 loss to the Sunwolves, handing the Tokyo-based side their first ever win away from home since joining the competition in 2016.

That followed the Chiefs' 54-17 demolition away to the ACT Brumbies in the previous week which soured All Blacks lock Brodie Retallick's 100th Super Rugby cap. "There's been a bit of finger-pointing and soul-searching," Cooper told reporters on Tuesday.

"We're in a hole, basically. We're 0-3, and we don't like it, it's uncomfortable, it's disappointing. "So we've got to look at how we can get out of that." Having given up an 11-point lead with 30 minutes left in their season-opening 30-27 loss to the Otago Highlanders, the Chiefs, playoffs fixtures since 2012, are already in danger of missing the postseason. Fans and media pundits have started questioning whether management will move to replace Cooper, who is in the second year of a three-year deal.

Chief executive Michael Collins said at the weekend there was no need to panic, and that his organisation backed Cooper and his staff. Cooper said the questions about his tenure were easy to shut out, having spent eight seasons in charge of the Wellington Hurricanes from 2003-2010 without delivering a title. "I've been here a few times," he said. "So it's just about staying calm and staying with them and keeping them together and making sure we don't have little splinters going on.

"People will poke at you and say 'you're not doing this and this well', it's just brushing that aside and really staying strong together." Ahead of a daunting away clash against the double defending champion Canterbury Crusaders in Christchurch, Cooper said one of the solutions to his team's problems was simply a matter of holding onto the ball.

The Chiefs committed 24 turnovers against the Sunwolves and would be in serious trouble should they do the same against the Crusaders. "We spent a lot of time defending because we kept turning the ball over," Cooper said. "We know we can't do that against the Crusaders, so we've just got to treasure the ball."

(With inputs from agencies.)