Six of the best - there's a simple solution

With his side hot on the semifinals pace and facing a crunch game against the table-topping Crusaders on Friday, Chiefs coach Ian Foster has joined the growing chorus calling for an expanded playoffs system for Super rugby.

Sanzar are looking at a variety of options to enhance their product, including expanding the tournament.

But the most simple improvement appears to be increasing the number of sides in the playoffs from the current four.

Most of the push for this has come from across the Tasman with Aussie boss John O'Neill gaining support for the idea from the Brumbies management and his new Wallabies coach, Robbie Deans.

They suggest a six-team finals format could be a good short-term option before the current Sanzar deal expires in 2010. And it seems Foster is a fan, saying the current points table is ample proof of the need to give more reward in terms of involvement in finals football.

While the Crusaders were runaway leaders heading into this ninth weekend of action, just six points separated the next six teams.

"What the last three weeks have shown is how tight this championship is," Foster told the Sunday Star-Times.

"When you look at the middle of the table now, it supports the argument that this championship needs more than four in the playoffs. There are too many good teams and so many of them miss out."

The Chiefs may have more cause than any New Zealand side to fight for bigger numbers. They have made the semifinals just once and are yet to appear in a final.

Since making the 2004 semifinals, they have been close to repeating that, finishing sixth, seventh and sixth, with just two points denying them over the last two years.

They were dogged by early season injuries, and their late runs finished agonisingly short.

"I think that the line between some of these teams is pretty tight," continues Foster.

"Let's be honest, 13 weeks is not a long championship. Each team is susceptible to losing three or four key players for five or six weeks and that can often affect how they finish at the end. That is probably something that we would like to eliminate."

Top Australian competitions the AFL and NRL reward eight of their 16 teams with playoff positions and the 13-club Australian basketball league, which features the New Zealand Breakers, goes even further with eight of their 13 teams left to fight for the title.

Expanding the finals rather than expanding the tournament seems to be a sensible compromise for now.

But, for the moment, Foster wants to continue to take the calculators out of the Chiefs' 2008 equation by upsetting the Crusaders in Hamilton on Friday night. It looms as arguably the clash of the season so far and a great curtainraiser to the city's V8 extravaganza over the weekend.

Don't forget that last year the Chiefs, on the back of a scorching second half of the championship, secured a win in Christchurch for the first time when they upset the Crusaders 30-24 in their last round- robin match.

They were cruelly overtaken by other sides on the table from that fateful final weekend but, given their current good form, they can eye the 2008 rematch with similar confidence.

Foster's men have sat out the bye this weekend. But in scoring three consecutive bonus-point wins they recorded more tries and more points than any team in the championship over those three weeks.

In fact their 42-28 win over the Brumbies was the most points achieved by any team visiting Canberra in 13 years.

"We have a way of playing, we enjoy it and I think it suits the players we have got. It's nice to see them expressing themselves," said Foster, hinting there would be little change of approach against the clinical Crusaders.

The only worry for the Chiefs is that they have also been conceding tries. They have been working hard to plug some holes but Foster says he can live with that if his side can maintain their current style and efficiency on attack.

"Obviously we leaked too many points early in this campaign. Over the last two or three weeks I guess it's more the tempo of the game and the way we have decided to play - there's a bit more of a risk factor to it. It's a higher tempo and you leave yourself at the risk of being exposed a little bit.

"Whilst we aren't happy with the amount of points we are conceding the flip side is, where do you get the balance? If you can score 42 points and they score 28, well, I'll take that every week."

Six of the best - there's a simple solution - Super 14 - RugbyHeaven