{"id":513250,"date":"2026-03-02T05:22:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T05:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/513250\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T05:22:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T05:22:08","slug":"rob-penney-on-chay-fihakis-best-in-the-world-skillset","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/513250\/","title":{"rendered":"Rob Penney on Chay Fihaki’s ‘best in the world’ skillset"},"content":{"rendered":"

You could forgive Crusaders<\/a> head coach Rob Penney for feeling relieved with his side\u2019s victory over last year\u2019s runners-up, the Chiefs, but the result isn\u2019t the only thing the 64-year-old is pleased about.<\/p>\n

The 2025 Super Rugby Pacific<\/a> champions bounced back from their 0-2 start to the campaign with a 43-33 win in Hamilton on Saturday evening, where a number of experienced All Blacks<\/a> stepped up.<\/p>\n

Crusaders utility-back Chay Fihaki<\/a> has long been talked about as a possible option in the future for higher honours, after being called into the All Blacks environment briefly under former head coach Scott Robertson.<\/p>\n

Fihaki has made 48 appearances for the red-and-blacks in over five years at the Christchurch-based Super Rugby Pacific franchise, and has become one of the most highly-rated aerial specialists this country has to offer.<\/p>\n

Penney, who is in his third year of coaching both Fihaki and the Crusaders, explained on Millsy & Guy on Sport Nation NZ that any team that wants to use a kicking strategy should look at Fihaki\u2019s skillset.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think any team that wants to utilize that as a an attacking tactic, would love to have Chay in their mitts, to be able to pull that out of the repertoire, because he\u2019s pretty special,\u201d Penney said.<\/p>\n

When asked about whether his specific skillset could push him towards an All Blacks selection, Penney said that his capabilities in his area of expertise is \u201cprobably the best in the world\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, without doubt, the game is critical that you have triple threats, and Chay\u2019s a triple threat with his speed, his handling and kicking skills, but he\u2019s got the fourth one, which is just world class and probably the best in the world at receiving those high kicks and regaining possession.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis skill set and his dexterity around that stuff it\u2019s not unique, but it\u2019s right at the top edge of anyone that\u2019s got capabilities in that area.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Crusaders have long prided themselves on their execution at set-piece time, with Saturday night\u2019s 2025 grand final rematch no different, as Penney\u2019s forward pack rolled their sleeves up.<\/p>\n

Penney said he knew the game against the Chiefs<\/a> would be a physical battle up front, but he was happy with the resilience his side showed alongside some class at scrum time.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, we\u2019re blessed with the talent we\u2019ve got. We thought that it would be a good battle up front, as it always is,\u201d Penney told Sport Nation NZ.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the Chiefs, they put some water over us at a couple of breakdowns, but, and they took a couple of lineups off us, but we rallied really well and we showed some resilience.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a pretty young second row, and teams are trying to put a bit of pressure on but they\u2019re getting better and better every week, and they\u2019ve got great talent.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur Scrum is a real weapon for us, and that proves, once again, a vital piece of our weaponry in the weekend and our backs complemented it beautifully.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You could forgive Crusaders head coach Rob Penney for feeling relieved with his side\u2019s victory over last year\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":513251,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-513250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=513250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513250\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/513251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=513250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=513250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=513250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}