The Super Rugby season kicked off over the weekend. No, it really did. Here's proof.
The season officially kicked off at 2.05am NZT (that's 12.05am for Aussie fans in Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne, 10.05pm in Tokyo, 9.05pm in Singapore and 10.05am in Argentina) as the Stormers hosted theJaguares in Cape Town.
Actually not a bad kickoff time of 9.05pm for those Super Rugby fans in Perth though. Too soon?
Here's what you missed (and I noticed from watching eight minutes of highlights)
There were 12 tries in the opening 160 minutes of the season with five in the Stormers' 28-20 win over the Jaguares and seven more as the Lions edged the Sharks 26-19.
These were some really decent tries and running rugby on offer with the chip and chase effort by Lions winger Aphiwe Dyantyi the early contender for 'try of the season'.
Six tries a game sounds like a lot but the 2017 season averaged 6.9 tries a game however. We'll keep an eye on this worrying trend. There were also two yellow cards as both the Jaguares and the Stormers had a man sent to the bin.
The good news - The Lions-Sharks game did not have one successful penalty attempt.
Lionel Mapoe of the Lions is tackled during the opening round of Super Rugby. Photosport
The Sharks have some work-ons during their bye
The issue with a 15-team, five-team conference, competition is that one side has to have the bye each week. In this opening week it was the Bulls and next week the Sharks enjoy the weekend off after a round one loss.
Here's how pointless the bye is for the Sharks - their next bye is in the last week of April, two weeks after their trip four-week trip to Australia and New Zealand.
At least skipper Ruan Botha highlighted a few things to work-on during the week off.
"The scrums disappointed us in the game. Holding the ball in contact was also disappointing," he said.
Disappointing.
Don't sleep on the Jaguares
Down 22-6 at halftime, the Argentine side managed to make a game of it in the second half closing it to 25-20 before a late Stormers penalty secured the eight-point win. Good to see the Jaguares not rolling over and actually showing some fight but they now have tough back-to-back games at the Lions before hosting the Hurricanes in Buenos Aires.
Who would want to be a rugby ref? Every close call you have to go upstairs, whenever you do roll the dice and then get it wrong then fans and critics pan you and the big officials make you wear really bright uniforms.
The latest 'make referees look stupid' line was rolled out in South Africa. They're been forced to wear Highlanders away tops with purple shorts. This bullying must stop.
Spot the ref! Referees are wearing bright green and purple in South Africa during this year's Super Rugby. Photosport
Yes, that's an emoji on the ground
An emoji on the ground during the Lions' win over the Sharks. Photo / Sky Sport
