A third successive Super Rugby crown will be the sweetest of the lot for departing Chiefs flanker Tanerau Latimer.

In claiming the 2012 and 2013 titles, the Chiefs finished the round-robin phase as one of the top two teams, getting a weekend off as well as home advantage in the semi-finals.

To complete a hat-trick, they will have to do it the hard way, as the fifth seed and facing the likelihood of three road trips, the first to Canberra on Saturday night.

“We haven’t really talked about it, but it would be a dream to win it from fifth place,” Latimer said.

“Obviously no one has done it before. It would surpass the ones we’ve done in the past couple of seasons.”

Latimer was part of the Chiefs’ 27-22 triumph over the Brumbies in the 2013 final in Hamilton.

But an achilles injury meant he missed the match in Canberra in April when the Brumbies scored an emphatic 41-23 victory.

He believes the way the Chiefs were able to keep their season alive with victories in the last two rounds shows they’ve kicked on since then.

“It’s a team that knows we’re coming to crunch time and we’re rising to the occasion,” he said.

“Along with that, you could say we’re probably a bit more mature and we’ve got our game going right.”

A five-Test All Black and Commonwealth Games sevens gold medallist, Latimer made his Super Rugby debut in 2006 for the Crusaders.

He has been with the Chiefs in the eight seasons since, bringing up 100 appearances for the franchise in April.

The 28-year-old is set to join Japanese club Toshiba after his Super Rugby commitments and he’s rapt his departure has been delayed by the Chiefs making the play-offs.

“The way we look at it, we’ve got three weeks to go, but let’s get this Saturday right.”