The opening round of Super Rugby showed little had changed since last year. Although plenty of new faces have arrived on the field the teams are still following familiar patterns.
The Blues looked good early before throwing the game away with some errors. No surprise there.
The Rebels are not very good and lost to the Sunwolves, who are indeed a bunch of no-names while the Brumbies just got home in a tight one at a sweltering Canberra stadium.
The Crusaders just went about their business and were too good for the Waratahs in Nelson although the Australian outfit came back into the game in the opening minutes of the second half.
Over in South Africa the Sharks, who play the Highlanders in Dunedin on Friday, scored a try right at the end to finally dispose of the Bulls while the Stormers won easily over the Hurricanes in Cape Town.
The Highlanders just got to sit back and take it all in as the side gets ready to start its season on Friday night.
The squad went to Alexandra for a few days’ training last week and the players then had the weekend off as the side had a bye to start the competition. However, it is now all stand to attention as the team gets to play eight games in eight weeks before its next bye.
The Sharks beat the Bulls 23-15 in Durban and have a solid enough side which will not be easy for the Highlanders. The outside backs have plenty of speed while the forwards did the basics right, though as in most games there was plenty of spilt ball.
The most impressive South African side was the Stormers which had a 27-0 win over the Hurricanes.
It was not a good debut for new Hurricanes head coach Jason Holland as his side conceded two yellow cards and did not register a point.
The Cape Town team’s joy at winning may have been tempered with captain Siya Kolisi leaving the field in the first half with a knee injury.
The Rebels lost to the Sunwolves 36-27 while the Crusaders beat the Waratahs 43-25.
In the other game, last year’s beaten finalist the Jaguares scored a first-up win over the Lions in Buenos Aires. The Jaguares won 38-8.