It's a measure of the Chiefs' menace that they looked equally dangerous both with and without the ball against the Force.
The best attack in Super Rugby blew away yet another defence in Hamilton tonight, lying in wait before striking with speed and skill to seize a bonus-point 53-10 victory.
It was hard to judge the pick of the Chiefs' nine tries and similarly difficult to assess the most influential contributor. Almost 1-15, the Chiefs showed an adroitness with ball in hand that always kept them a step ahead of the opposition.
Even though they spent stretches playing without possession, particularly during a strong first half for the Force, the Chiefs always appeared poised to puncture the visitors' defence. Before they assumed greater ascendancy after the break, three of the Chiefs' first four tries came from turnover ball, turning defence into attack before their opponents had time to turn on their heels.
In fairness to the Force, even a prepared defence would have struggled to cope with the Chiefs when the passes stuck. If their attacking style could best be described as high-risk, high-reward, the latter certainly outweighed the former throughout the encounter.
While the Force initially enjoyed more than their fair share of the ball, forcing a travel-weary Chiefs to do plenty of tackling, the hosts showed no signs of a drained energy reserve when they finally sniffed possession.
The pace with which they attacked suggested an eagerness to maximise every opportunity and, while it could occasionally cost them, their effectiveness when working in confined spaces rendered irrelevant the occasional ill-advised pass.
A brilliant raid down the left sideline for Damian McKenzie's first try was a worrying harbinger for what was awaiting the Force, with several Chiefs taking turns to commit tacklers and pop their passes at the last possible moment.
Those passes could often appear puzzling in the instant they left the hand but, in the blink of an eye, a teammate would appear on cue to continue the inexorable march downfield. And it wasn't just the outside backs who treated the ball as if they had developed a sudden allergy, with Hika Elliot's fast hands leading to Charlie Ngatai's first try.
By the time the carnage was complete, the second-five had four tries and had shown just why he must be considered the front-runner to claim the All Blacks' vacant No 12 jersey in the June internationals. Not only did Ngatai display a capability to both start and finish a break, he kicked with good awareness to regularly turn around the Force.
He wasn't alone in that regard and, with the defence and the set piece remaining solid all evening, the Chiefs were more than willing to put boot to ball. Especially since they knew that, when the Force eventually coughed up possession, the opportunity to make their opponents pay would not be squandered.
By fulltime, the Force were the side who appeared fatigued, with the safety net of a comfortable lead allowing the Chiefs to toss around the ball with even less refrain. They even had time to hand Stephen Donald his first Super Rugby appearance since 2011, with the World Cup hero capping a perfect night with the last points of the match.
Chiefs 53 (D. McKenzie 2, M. Leitch, C. Ngatai 4, T. Pulu, J. Lowe tries; D. McKenzie 3 cons, S. Donald con)
Force 10 (B, Tapuai try; P. Grant pen, con)
HT: 12-10
