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Chopping down the best athletes in Super Rugby will be the key to toppling the Hurricanes in next weeks succulent Super Rugby semi-final in Wellington.Thats the attitude of the two-time champion Chiefs, who joined their opponents in thumping a hapless South African side in the quarter-finals.The top-seeded Hurricanes whitewashed the Sharks 41-0 and will enjoy home advantage again.They dont face a second week of draining trans-Indian Ocean travel like the sixth-seeded Chiefs, who overwhelmed the Stormers 60-21 in Cape Town on Saturday (Sunday AEST) and will face a third game on the road if they reach the final.Chiefs coach Dave Rennie is downplaying the travel factor, saying it didnt enter his players psyches in Cape Town and he doesnt expect it to over the coming week.The priority will instead be countering a Hurricanes side who he says are leading the way in terms of strike power.Their ability to keep the ball alive, all of their back five in their forwards are dangerous ball carriers, Rennie said.Theyve got a hell of a lot of firepower so the key to beating them is to suppress a little bit of that. Thats a big challenge.Injury rehabilitation will play a major part for both teams.Hurricanes captain and All Blacks hooker Dane Coles is in doubt after taking a painful blow to the ribs.The Chiefs lost inside centre Stephen Donald (shoulder) and co-captain Sam Cane (head knock) during the Stormers win and couldnt say how serious either injury is.Donalds absence could be countered by a likely return to fitness of two-Test All Blacks centre Seta Tamanivalu, who missed the quarter-final with a knee injury.All Blacks flanker Cane will undergo concussion tests, with results not likely to be known until after the team arrive in New Zealand on Tuesday morning.Michael Leitch has been out for two months with a dislocated thumb but the No.8 could be ready to play.If both Cane and Leitch are ruled out, Rennie will consider making another appeal to SANZAAR for dispensation to field All Blacks flanker Liam Messam, who was deemed ineligible for the quarter-final after playing just two games this season. 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ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- Wade Phillips returned to work Monday, his sense of humor still intact after a scary fall when San Diego running back Melvin Gordon plowed into him on the sideline Sunday.I am ok today and back to work at what I love, Phillips wrote on Twitter. I get the big hit award for the week!Oh, and about that tumble ...They say it was a collision on the sideline but actually I got run over, Denvers 69-year-old defensive coordinator tweeted.His defense didnt.The reigning Super Bowl champs hit the halfway point at 6-2 even though their offense remains stuck in neutral and managed just two touchdowns in a half-dozen trips inside the red zone in their 27-19 win over San Diego .The Broncos broke up 13 passes, hit Philip Rivers 17 times and picked off three of his passes even though they were missing two starters in cornerback Aqib Talib and linebacker Brandon Marshall and lost backup cornerback Kayvon Webster to a pulled hamstring Sunday.After Phillips was carted off the field in the second quarter and taken to a hospital, linebackers coach Reggie Herring took over defensive play calls, sending in signals to backup Corey Nelson, who played 77 of 81 snaps in place of Marshall.Phillips was released shortly after the game ended and cleared to return to work.Hes sitting in the back of the meeting just now, hes got a big smile on his face, coach Gary Kubiak said. Hes sore but hes feeling good and back at it. Im trying to get him to go home and rest a little bit today. He didnt want to do that. But hes good. Hes himself today.Asked for specifics on what happened to Phillips, Kubiak said, He just got the heck knocked out of him. I saw the play finally late last night. The turnover, the running back was chasing the ball. He ran through the sidelines, kind of caught Wade up high and it looked like the back of his head hit the ground pretty hard. So, you know, just a scary situation right there. But ... he was talking to us and responding to us on the field. So, we just feel very fortunate that hes OK.Moving Phillips to the coaches box upstairs didnt seem to be something the Broncos are seriously considering at this point.Well see howw Wades feeling, Kubiak said.dddddddddddd What Im seeing today, hes himself today and the fact hes battling me today when Im trying to get him to go home and get some rest makes me know hes back to his old self.Besides, Kubiak said, theres a lot of guys down here who cant move very good. It really is scary sometimes, when you have turnovers, field position change, gunners on punt team, youve got to really pay attention and boy, he got caught pretty good. Hes just got to move quicker, I guess.Bradley Roby scored on a 49-yard interception return on the play.Darian Stewarts interception also led to a touchdown, but the Broncos failed to convert T.J. Wards interception into points when rookie running back Devontae Booker fumbled at the 2, one of four failures inside the 20-yard line that kept this one close despite Denvers defensive dominance.Were not even close to what we need to be, said Kubiak, whose team has a Sunday night showdown next weekend at Oakland, also 6-2. We didnt play well yesterday, but the team still found a way to win. So, thats a good sign for the football team.The Broncos rushed for just 57 yards six days after piling up 190 -- but that was with C.J. Anderson, who went on IR after right knee surgery Thursday -- and Trevor Siemian completed just 20 of 38 passes with no touchdowns and a pick-6 on a ball that went off Jordan Norwoods hands.Siemian responded with completions of 40 and 31 yards on his next two throws, leading to a field goal that made it an 8-point game. Then, after Denvers goal-line stand, rookie punter Riley Dixon had his best punt of the season, a 68-yarder.There was no bigger play that that, kicking the ball out of our end zone, Kubiak said. Heck, we had two almost holding calls down there. It was a mess, and the bottom line is we needed the best punt of the year from him and we got it.---AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and AP NFL Twitter feed: www.twitter.com/AP-NFL---Follow AP Pro Football Writer Arnie Melendrez Stapleton on Twitter: http://twitter.com/arniestapleton ' ' '