Neither franchise has won a Super Rugby title, with the Lions’ previous best effort semi-final appearances in 2001-02 (when they were known as the Cats), while the Hurricanes lost finals in 2006 and 2015.
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His side will return to Wellington next weekend, hoping to improve on last year’s loss in the decider to the Highlanders.
Without the pair, the home side might have struggled to overcome a Chiefs side who held sway at scrum and lineout time and dominated territory in cold, blustery conditions.
Chiefs: 15 Damian McKenzie, 14 Sam McNicol, 13 Seta Tamanivalu, 12 Anton Lienert-Brown, 11 James Lowe, 10 Aaron Cruden (c), 9 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 8 Tom Sanders, 7 Sam Cane (captain), 6 Taleni Seu, 5 Brodie Retallick, 4 Dominic Bird, 3 Atu Moli, 2 Nathan Harris, 1 Kane Hames.
The Hurricanes stubbornly protected their tryline against a Chiefs side who had scored 76 tries this season, including eight in last week’s quarter-final rout of the Stormers.
For the first, Barrett ran from just outside his 22, saw space behind Chiefs’ defensive line, chipped with his weaker left-foot, gathered and ran diagonally in search of support before finding Willis Halaholo with an off-load to put the right-wing over out wide.
McKenzie got Chiefs on the board and Dave Rennie’s side piled on the pressure without reward before Barrett slotted over a penalty and added insult to injury by plucking a stray Sam Cane pass to race away and go under the posts.
This week, against the Hurricanes, the Chiefs are anticipating a tighter game.
Malcolm Marx and the Lions will take on the Hurricanes in the Super Rugby final in Wellington on Saturday night after seeing off the Highlanders in Johannesburg.
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