The Chiefs have overcome some heavy pressure and poor discipline to grind out a 37-27 Super Rugby win over the Cheetahs in Hamilton, with Sonny Bill Williams looking in good touch on his return from concussion.
The Chiefs had two men sent to the sin-bin, but then scored what turned out to be the decisive try when they were a man up themselves.
With 14 minutes remaining and the home side leading 23-20, Cheetahs loose forward Heinrich Brussow was yellow-carded for a professional foul on his own line.
The Chiefs took advantage with flanker Sam Cane dotting down from a scrum move.
With the clock winding down, they secured their bonus-point fourth try through replacement centre Andrew Horrell.
Five-eighth Aaron Cruden put his recent kicking struggles behind him by landing both conversions to end with seven from seven off the tee.
The Cheetahs had the final say on Saturday though, as Brussow, impressive apart from his sin-binning, grabbed his second try of the afternoon.
The win keeps the Chiefs in second place in the New Zealand conference behind competition leaders the Hurricanes, but the Cheetahs remain bottom among the South African sides.
The match featured the Cheetahs' dominant rolling maul in the opening spell, and the Chiefs' scrum superiority in the second half.
The Chiefs made a flying start to the contest, No.8 Michael Leitch scoring in the second minute after 10 phases and a trademark offload from Williams.
They bagged a second try from almost nothing in the 18th minute as skipper Liam Messam broke clear from a maul to touch down.
But at 14-6 up, the Chiefs began to be hurt by their indiscipline at the breakdown.
The penalty count was 8-0 against them at one stage and one infringement led to lock Michael Fitzgerald being binned.
A man up, the Cheetahs worked one of their lineout drives to send No.8 Boom Prinsloo over for their opening try.
They then found themselves briefly with a two-man advantage when Chiefs prop Ben Tameifuna was shown a yellow card, again for a breakdown indiscretion.
Two Cruden penalties pushed the Chiefs out to a 20-13 lead early in the second half, but they then conceded a soft try to Brussow to allow the visitors to tie the score.
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