See how your team fared after the first full week of competition.
The Chiefs opened their Super 15 title defence with a flattering win while the underdog Otago Highlanders stole the spotlight as the first full round exposed the pre-season hype.
With the Australia and New Zealand teams firing up, a week after the South Africans, the defending champion Waikato Chiefs survived on scant possession to produce an 18-10 win over the Canterbury Crusaders.
The Highlanders and Brumbies also started on a winning note while the Coastal Sharks and Golden Lions went two from two and the Central Cheetahs registered their first win inflicting a second defeat on the Northern Bulls.
The NSW Waratahs and Western Force play late Sunday in Sydney to complete the second week.
The Chiefs produced a mighty defensive effort to hold out the Crusaders who fell victim to their own repeated errors which included gifting a late intercept try to deny themselves a bonus point.
The Crusaders also missed seven penalty shots at goal as they adjust to a season without maestro goalkicker Dan Carter, who is on leave.
Chiefs skipper Aaron Cruden said his side could not take too much from the win.
“It was a patchy and rusty performance,” he said. “We got tested and at times we were under the pump but … moving forward it’s going to be a hard old slog if we don’t have the ball for long periods like here.”
The Chiefs get a chance to show how rapidly they can improve next week when they face the unfancied Highlanders who pulled off the surprise of the weekend with a 29-21 win over the Auckland Blues.
The four-try bonus-point win put the Highlanders in the unaccustomed position of heading the New Zealand conference after they led the Blues 24-0 at half-time and held off the Aucklanders’ spirited second-half comeback.
The Sharks and fly-half Patrick Lambie continued their good starts to the season with a 27-9 victory over the Wellington Hurricanes in Durban.
Lambie, who contributed 16 points in last week’s 31-16 win over the Bulls, went one point better against the New Zealanders with 17 from five penalties and a conversion.
The Sharks head the table with nine points, one more than the unbeaten Lions who stunned the Western Stormers 34-10 in Johannesburg with an outstanding display of goal-kicking by stand-in fly-half Marnitz Boshoff.
Boshoff, filling in for the injured Elton Jantjies, contributed 29 points from six penalties, three drop goals and a conversion to reach the 50 mark just two rounds into the season.
The Stormers, winners of all nine previous Super rugby clashes with the Lions, had far more possession but could breach the magnificent defence only once.
The Cheetahs registered their first win of the season and their first ever win over the Bulls with a 15-9 victory in wet Bloemfontein.
Former champions Bulls owed many past victories to Morne Steyn, and the Pretoria outfit are finding it hard to replace the goal-kicking skills of the now Paris-based fly-half.
In Australia, the Queensland Reds showed great resilience away from home to fight off the ACT Brumbies for a 27-17 win.
The Reds defended resolutely for much of the second half to hold on to a three-point lead and claimed a clinching try through replacement winger Chris Feauai-Sautia in the final minutes.
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