by Brendan Bradford - Not many people gave much thought to the Chiefs at the start of last season. Fly-half, Aaron Cruden was fighting his way back from injury, there were still question marks over Sonny-Bill Williams, their back three were questionable and their forward pack was largely written off. By the end of the year though, the durable Cruden was Player of the Tournament, Williams had established himself as one of the best midfielders in the world, tighthead-prop Sona Taumalolo was a try-scoring, cult hero and the rest of the forward pack had silenced the doubters with a season of uncompromising efficiency resulting in a series of All Blacks call-ups. Oh, and they won their maiden title. Although the task of defending the trophy – a feat only achieved four times in 17 years of Super Rugby – has been made that much harder by the departures of SBW and Taumalolo, there’s