They Chiefs have kept their unbeaten start to the season intact and somehow nabbed another bonus point.

But the error-ridden display against the Bulls and the loss of Sam Cane to concussion will have the Chiefs still well-grounded as they eye up their trek overseas.

Following their bye, the Chiefs jump back to the top of Super Rugby's New Zealand conference with a 28-12 win in Hamilton on Saturday night, but it was far more unconvincing than the final score indicated, and came at a potentially big cost.

All Blacks openside flanker Cane may be in doubt to board the plane on Monday to South Africa, after lasting just three minutes, having collided with the forearm of Burger Odendaal, then failing his concussion test.

Cane has recent history with head knocks, having suffered one in the quarterfinal in Cape Town last year, before being passed fit for the semifinal in Wellington, but then also being forced off in that match, delaying his arrival in the All Blacks' camp.

His early omission was part of an awful first-half for the home side, who squandered a heap of opportunities and were made to overturn a 9-3 halftime deficit.

The Bulls were a desperate unit, having won just one from four, and keen to make amends for a second-half slackening against the Blues last weekend. And, for an extended time, they turned up fully intent to crash the party of Liam Messam - the most-capped player in Chiefs history - who was celebrating his 150th.

​The hosts were made to defend for an eternity early on - 31 tackles to four, and an alarming 11 misses to one. The Bulls, enjoying 80 per cent possession, controlled a lot of ball in the middle, then stabbed well-weighted kicks in and around Damian McKenzie that slowed things down and limiting the nippy fullback's counter-attacking abilities.

While the Chiefs made a real statement with the opening scrum, heaving the visitors off their own ball to win a penalty, that was their only points of the first 40, with an avalanche of ball put down on attack, on what was a perfect night for footy. In fact, the quality was embarrassing compared with the effort in the torrential rain against the Hurricanes in round three.

Up front, there was the usual decent graft, but problems came when the ball got flung a wee bit wider. Second-five Johnny Fa'auli provided his usual punch, but was guilty of trying too hard, before being pulled after 52 minutes, with Anton Lienert-Brown outside him hardly seeing many opportunities.

Rustiness from a bye will only be tolerated so far, and despite the Chiefs' great start to the season, they still had everything to play for. There was the Messam milestone, it was their only home game for six rounds, and with Messam leading the charge they had bandied tight together in shaving their heads for two-year-old Ka'iulani Forbes, who is fighting cancer.

With coach Dave Rennie scathing of the scrappy win over the Rebels a fortnight ago before their bye, you could almost imagine what was happening inside the sheds at halftime here, with the players' ears probably still ringing on arrival for the second half.

For 10 further minutes the 13,186 crowd were kept with heads clasped in hands, before Shaun Stevenson suddenly produced an individual piece of brilliance to spark his team to life - with his sidestep, grubber and finish just the spectacular ingredient that was desperately craved.

Aaron Cruden's sideline conversion gave the Chiefs the lead, and from there they weren't going to be stopped, as the Bulls ran out of steam.

McKenzie finished a sublime play which had Tawera Kerr-Barlow grubbering towards the posts, before Atu Moli burrowed over, to make it four bonus points from five outings, and give them a three-point buffer over the Crusaders, who are away to the Waratahs on Sunday.

AT A GLANCE

Chiefs 28 (Shaun Stevenson, Damian McKenzie, Atu Moli tries; Aaron Cruden 2 con, 3 pen) Bulls 12 (Handre Pollard 4 pen). HT: 3-9.

- Stuff



Liam Messam played his 150th game for the Chiefs tonight.