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KEY POINTS:
Next round foes, the Blues and Bulls, will be in a happy place. Maximum-point victories to start the latest Super 14 series were a boost for coaching and playing staff who have battled through the summer heat preparing for their winter code.
Were similar playing standards completed towards the fag-end of the season, both franchises would be concerned about their ability to go further in Southern Hemisphere provincial competitions.
But this was February, not May; this was the start of a gruelling series which is a rugged inspection of sides' ability to deal with injuries, travel and setbacks welded to their capacity to peak in a four-month slog.
So the Blues, the Bulls and the five other victors in round one will be just a shade more at ease when they hit the training paddocks this week to prepare for their next assignments.
Three of those victorious sides will be surveying an "L" in their results column unless there is a rare stalemate in matches between the Blues and Bulls, Brumbies and Crusaders, Sharks and Lions in the second round of the competition.
The Blues travel to Pretoria with a growing injury list but also an expanding confidence about their united resolve to deal with adversity in coach Pat Lam's first year in charge.
Captain Keven Mealamu and midfielder Benson Stanley have added to an escalating injury list while hamstrung halfback Taniela Moa returned home for the birth of his first child.
Loose forward Jerome Kaino and wing Joe Rokocoko were still in Auckland waiting for their first children to be born, wing Rudi Wulf was dealing with a cracked wrist, while locks Ali and Jay Williams were rehabbing from their injuries.
The injured list is already alarming with halfback Grayson Hart and hooker Francis Smith en route to the Republic as cover, but Lam said the squad just had to get on with it, as they did in beating the Force 25-19.
"The reason I'm most pleased," he said, "is the fact that the senior players are doing a great job in bringing these guys together, and it's showing out there on the field. They led the way and the young guys brought a lot of energy to it."
That was most evident after halftime when the Blues turned their fortunes with three quick tries before holding out the hard-charging Force in the final quarter.
Next up are the Bulls in their Pretoria cauldron, a side trying to build more width to their setpiece domination but who suffered like most sides with the quality of their production in the opening round.
They also lost their ace lock and skipper Victor Matfield, who suffered some shoulder or back damage when he fell awkwardly during a lineout leap. His absence this week would balance Ali Williams' absence from the Blues, though Danie Rossouw is a strong replacement for the Pretoria hosts alongside rugged Bakkies Botha.
Halfback Fourie du Preez was also in robust form alongside other proven stars like Pierre Spies and Bryan Habana, while the Bulls scrum also cranked out some energy.
Elsewhere the Crusaders claimed the only other New Zealand victory when they overcame some wobbles and robust inspection from the Chiefs to open their title defence with a 19-13 victory.
While the game was fairly disjointed, it was noticeable for the debut of Crusaders five-eighths Colin Slade, the return of Brendon Leonard at halfback for the Chiefs and renewed efforts from former All Blacks Sione Lauaki and Casey Laulala.
Slade was both sound and inaccurate but showed the composure which endeared him to top coach Todd Blackadder for the start of the series. Leonard was in beetling best after his long injury layoff, while Lauaki and Laulala were central figures in their sides' production.
In the opening match of the competition, the Highlanders began like students offered free beer. They had a rapid 19-point lead but lost skipper Jimmy Cowan and his deputy Jamie Mackintosh to injury and then succumbed to the wiles of the Brumbies and their own inability to close out a game.
The host Hurricanes conceded a 19-point start to the Waratahs before the home team altered their flaky tactics, kept the ball in hand more and pressed the visitors until their sharp young centre, Rob Horne, claimed a vital bonus-point try.
Much of the Hurricanes' opening production fell into the erratic category as they tried to cope with the absence of Andrew Hore and Conrad Smith. Corrections need to come fast with the Highlanders the next foe on Saturday week at the Cake Tin.
