Canterbury fell to Tasman in their opener lastweek 25-17 and you could even say that the scoreline was flattering for the defending champions, scoring two converted tries while Tasman had a man in the bin for the last 10 minutes of the game.
Wellington were rampant to begin with against Otago but the contest evened out following the 17-0 lead that the Lions established. It did seem as though Wellington did slightly let their foot off the pedal and they looked to be a complete side, boasting class in most positions. They can cause an upset in Christchurch, especially if Richie Mo'unga isn't released to play.
Counties were patchy in their loss to Auckland last week and it's a bit of a surprise that the Steelers have opened as favourites in their encounter with Bay of Plenty on Thursday night. The Steamers were perhaps the surprise package of the round with their 30-10 trouncing of Taranaki, their forward pack looked very handy. They can win this one.
Neither Waikato nor North Harbour were impressive in their first games of the season. While Harbour are deserved favourites with the squad that they have, Waikato look improved in 2018 and will be desperate to buck their eight-game losing streak.
This is a complete mismatch. Perhaps the best side in the competition, the Mako, host the lowly Southland Stags who showed very little in their 31-10 loss to Hawke's Bay last week. That was in Invercargill and against a side who finished second-to-last in the Championship last season. Travelling to Blenheim and playing against a star-studded Tasman side, things could get very ugly for the southerners.
