Too early to rush to judgment

About the only real certainty in the New Zealand Conference after the opening fortnight of Super Rugby is that the Chiefs remain an incredibly tough nut to crack.

Openside Richie McCaw’s broken hand will embolden those convinced the Crusaders’ empire is falling after their 35-24 loss to the Blues at Eden Park.

The Highlanders’ 21-19 loss to the Chiefs will not dampen the enthusiasm in Dunedin over a young side playing with the knowledge it has nothing to lose.

And Hurricanes fans remain the most tortured and confused in the country after watching a familiar tale of close, but not quite, in Cape Town.

But can the Highlanders youngsters maintain their high intensity? Will the Hurricanes’ improved defence pay off once their attacking game clicks?

And are the Blues on the cusp of something special after young first five-eighth Simon Hickey finally added some assurance in the franchise’s problem position?

In truth, it is too early to make many definitive judgments on a conference that is likely to deliver some topsyturvy results.

What is already fact is that Chiefs coach Dave Rennie heads into the bye in rude health after his two talismen Aaron Cruden and Liam Messam engineered a come-from-behind win in Hamilton.

Meanwhile, the Crusaders welcomed back No 8 Kieran Read, but said farewell to McCaw, who is out for several weeks after breaking his hand.

For the second week in a row the Crusaders paid the price with a loss for failing to put their foot on an opponent’s throat.

At 17-3 up, the win was there for the taking, but a string of fumbles and the x-factor of Blues wings Tevita Li and Frank Halai turned the match on its head.

Uncharacteristic errors from Tom Taylor and sloppy handling didn’t help, but are the Crusaders playing terribly? Not really, but with so little x-factor in their backline, they are not capitalising enough on hard earned possession and territory.

In Australia there are signs the overall standard may have improved with the Waratahs clearly the team to beat and the Force likely to be the team beaten most.

The same cannot be said for South Africa where the Bulls and Stormers are clearly adjusting after the offseason exodus of talent to Europe.

The Waratahs looked a confident unit in beating the Reds by a record margin of 32-5.