Five-eighth Aaron Cruden says the chopping and changing in the Chiefs’ starting side is not the main reason they have failed to fire in their last two Super Rugby matches.

The disappointing losses to the Queensland Reds and NSW Waratahs have left the team behind the table-topping Blues in the New Zealand conference.

But it has been the manner of those defeats that has caused the real frustration for the defending champions.

The attack has lacked punch and there has been too much turnover ball, which might partly be blamed on the number of different midfield combinations outside Cruden so far this year.

On Saturday against the Sharks in Hamilton, Richard Kahui and Tim Nanai-Williams will pair up in what will be the sixth midfield partnership used this season.

In all, coach Dave Rennie has made nine changes to his starting team from last week.

All Blacks playmaker Cruden admitted it was frustrating at times not having a settled line-up that could establish a good attacking rhythm.

“But we can’t use that as an excuse because the major problem for us has just been individual errors and people not cherishing the ball as much as we should,” he said.

“We just haven’t been able to maintain ball to apply pressure on other teams’ defences of late.”

To compound matters the Chiefs’ once-miserly defence has started to spring leaks too and the Waratahs (three tries) and the Reds (four) took full advantage.

“There are just a few guys making poor individual decisions, not sticking to structures and putting the rest of the team under pressure,” said Cruden, whose missed tackle on Adam Ashley-Cooper resulted in a try to Cam Crawford last week.

“The old cliche is that defence wins championships and that was definitely the case for our team last year.”