Round 1 of this year's Super12 was fairly fast and furious! The Blues got up easily over the Highlanders (30-14) in Dunedin on Friday night. Despite being behind on the scoreboard for a lot of the first half the Blues got their act together and pulled off a convincing win scoring three tries to the Highlander's one. Auckland's tries came from Keven Mealamu, David Gibson, and Xavier Rush while Luke McAlister posted 15 points from 3 penalties and 3 conversion kicks.

Mat Rogers was the star on the paddock in Sydney for the Waratahs game against the Chiefs. Instrumental in just about every Waratah try on the night, Rogers was all over the place chipping, chasing, passing.... it was a great performance :) Gotta love the try he scored himself when he kicked and chased the ball through twice down the sideline before being able to collect it and score the try. Rogers' goal kicking proved a shocker though with only 1 successful attempt out of 7. I think everyone forgave him though!

The Tahs picked up a precious bonus point when they scored their fourth try to win the game 25-7. Waratah try scorers were Morgan Turinui who picked up two, Mat Rogers, and Lote Tuqiri. Sosene Anesi scored the only Chiefs' try.

Over in Capetown the Stormers (26) were too good for the Sharks (12). Breyton Paulse had a blinder for the Stormers scoring two tries. Boy he can run fast!!

The Brumbies vs Crusaders game in Canberra last night saw the Brumbies pick up a hard earned win (32-21), a couple of injuries, and a bonus point. With Joe Roff now retire, injured Matt Giteau watching from the sideline, Stirling Mortlock and Clyde Rathbone to join Giteau not far into the game it was a 'new look' Brumbies backline on the field for the majority of the game.

The old heads of Stephen Larkham, Owen Finegan and George Gregan lifted their game and led the way for the newer and new players to shine. And shine they did! Gene Fairbanks scored a try on his Brumbies debut, while Ashley-Cooper, Sam Norton-Knight, and Lenny Beckett all played great games as well. Mark Gerrard was very solid at Full Back, while Chisholm and Samo (who scored a try as well) combined with Finegan to annoy the Crusaders all night long :)

Brumbies number 8 Scott Fava was blistering, and scored two tries on the night, while George Smith again showed us all why he is one of the world's best flankers and ball thief!

The Crusaders didn't play a bad game, really either side could have won the game for almost all of the match. Richie McCaw led his team well, and Marshall was great at half back (as usual). The Canterbury crew scored three tries: Mehrtens, Laulala, and Marshall.

I don't really want to write about the Reds/Hurricanes game at Ballymore. The Hurricanes got up 24-10. The Reds started so well.... Flatley scored within the first 30 seconds of the game!! The Hurricanes picked themselves up and put in a solid performance to outplay their opponents. That given, the scoreline would have been much kinder had Julian Huxley packed his kicking boots in his kit :(

The last game of the round saw the Cats 23 beat the Bulls 17 over in Johannesburg. Cats' flyhalf Andre Pretoriu was responsible for all but five of his team's points collecting a solo try, two successful conversions, and three penalty kicks. Nice one!

I was going okay with my tipping.... until the last two games. Doh!

I'll go update the ladder etc shortly.

In Six Nations news... Scotland's Paterson kicked 6 from 6 penalty kicks to give the Scots an 18-10 victory over Italy. Welsh supporters will no doubt be smiling again today as Wales got up 24-18 over France. Ireland vs England in what should be a corker of a game - you can catch it live on Foxsports at 1.57am (12.57am Qld time) tomorrow morning. You might want to mention to your friends they might as well get used to that 'eyes hanging out of your head' look. heh :)