Well, thanks to wedding commitments, I saw about 90 minutes of rugby at the weekend, and it sounds like some of it was good to miss, and 80 odd minutes of it I wish I had missed...

Yes, that Friday night(mare) game between the Hurricanes and the Highlanders.  Not the most entertaining of matches, more errors than in my Form 1 spelling tests, and more elementary too - catching and passing sometimes seems beyond these plonkers who get paid big money to do just that.  I saw some better skills in the Whangamata v Tairua pre season clash that same Friday.  Certainly a lot more passion, and definitely a lot more punches.  I love local derby rugby.  Final score 7 all, no knock out blows landed, but a few standing 8 counts.  The Super game ended 10-6 to the Hurricanes though...

Anyway, the only things that really stood out from the Friday nightmare game was Conrad Smith looked bloody good at centre, with the constant rugby, he is finding his feet again.  The injury free run (there goes the jinx, sorry Conrad) is doing him no end of good.  He is just so damn busy on the field.  Also the niggle when David Hall came onto the field for the Clan.  He must have really rubbed Collins and So'oialo up the wrong way at some stage, as it was a hunting party on the nuggety Southland hooker.  Collins cited for the elbow job he did on the prone Hall, but no ban.  Nonu on the other hand banned, and rightly so for his high shot on Newland.  It started aiming for the point of the chin, and missed, hitting him in the mouth instead...

The rest of games, as Wille Weka said of the Chiefs game, in classic Fitxy speak, "A game of two halves".  Not as good as his halftime text that I received while at the wedding though, "It's official, we fucking suck".  The only bit I saw of that game was the Sivivatu tackle.  And for those bitching about him not being cited and Nonu being cited, two horrible tackles, but one completely intentional, and one careless.  If Sivivatu had managed to get his arms onto the leaping Cheetah, it would have been a standard tackle, but as the bloke leaped into the tackle, he was up and cart wheeling over Sivi's shoulder before the wing had a chance to lay a hand on him.  The yellow card he got for that was more than enough.  Nonu, plain and simple, attacked the head, and got what he deserved.  Chiefs went from 0-17 at the half to win the game 22-20.  So while the Chiefs are probably playing worse than last season, they are now 2-2, instead of 0-4.  Go figure.

Prop Cyril was also at the Cheetahs v Chiefs game, and he was astounded at how fat the Cheetahs fatties were.  Their reserve prop in particular.  Looked like he was barely fit enough to be playing club rugby, let alone Super 12 rugby.  Professional era props should NOT have the muffin body happening.  Muffin body - fat rolls over the tops of shorts, like a muffin over its paper wrapping...  Will have to check out this fat boy if I manage to get to see some rugby this weekend.

The Blues, their normal self destruct by the sounds of it, but they almost fought their way back into the match, but they had let the Sharks, fast becoming their bogey team, get too big a lead.  A loss at this early stage though will not be all bad for the Blues, a side that does need a reality check now and then.  With the plethora of bonus points they have at the moment, and will get as the rounds progress, it should not cost them too many places on the log.  So 17-22 not the bonus point win that they expected, half right though, they did get a bonus point...!

The Crusaders struggled to beat the Force 29-24 in the blast furnace heat of Perth.  A late Laulala try from a Gitau clearance kick giving the Cantabs the win.  Five tries to four in a match where kicking goals seemed optional.  Would probably had a better success rate playing golden oldie rules - convert you won tries.

The Reds lost to the Stormers 16-34, as they once again start their plummet down the ladder.  Was it nine losses in a row last season?  They are heading that way again by the looks of things after their strong start to the season.  The same as last year in fact.  Poor bastards.

The Bulls beat the Lions 31-17.  An entertaining match by all reports, unlike the snooze fest that I predicted - that snooze fest arriving at the Friday nightmare game instead...

The other 'local' match, the Waratahs beat the Brumbies in monsoon conditions in Sydney 22-17.  Brumbies trying hard to recapture the old glories, but with the old guard gone, it will be a long hard season for the horse men.