Getting home for a 26–23 win in Melbourne, coach Clayton McMillan said the Chiefs were proud of being a side that only looks at their next game.
"We've got the 'Canes and the Blues, and there's still an opportunity for us to throw a cat amongst the pigeons, and other teams might create the same sort of chaos on the points table.
"We'll prepare like we do for every game, particularly that we're at home next week against the 'Canes.
"We weren't happy with the last time we played them, and now we get to play them in our backyard.
McMillan felt the Chiefs missed the chance to tie the game up earlier when leading by 11-12 points. But they got a little loose and gave the Rebels the chance to come back.
"We always anticipated this was going to be a hard game. We knew there was going to be a lot of emotion [with the Rebels possibly playing their last game at home]. We knew what we were getting ourselves into and we're happy to walk away with four points."
"When you play a team riding high on emotion, it can go one of two ways. They can bring a lot of that passion to the game, and we saw that. Sometimes, it could make you anxious and tight, and perhaps there was an opportunity to force some errors, but we didn't see that from them.
"We just saw them being passionate and fighting right to the end."
While it might have been nice to have had a much more comfortable win, finals rugby can sometimes be close-run affairs, so the experience of their late win in Melbourne could still be useful.
As they worked closer to the finals, the Chiefs coaching group wanted to ensure they had a more balanced game.
"As you get closer to finals, not only do defences and opportunities get a hell of a lot tighter, but conditions can often come into the equation. It's no secret that we're a team that likes to build high phase counts and use a lot of width. Sometimes you don't get that.
"So, if we want to be genuine contenders then we've got to be able to play multiple styles in a game."