New Zealand Super Rugby opener shows how good the game can be

The skill, the pace, the entertainment value – breath taking.

Played at the enclosed Forsyth Barr Stadium on a perfect pitch for rugby Tana Umaga’s Blues tore into Aaron Mauger’s Highlanders.

Two old All Black team mates desperate to get one-up in the opening stoushes of the toughest pool of the best provincial rugby competition on earth (including the Champions Cup).

And the stars on show, many of the greatest players on earth – Aaron Smith, Ben Smith, Lima Sopoaga, Waisake Naholo and Liam Squire – and that’s just the Highlanders.

The Blues boasted Sonny Bill Williams, the Ioane brothers, Ofa Tu’ungafasi – and in an impressive start to the season, Warren Gatland Junior, Bryn.

And what a match they served up.

Nine tries, the lead constantly see-sawing, 1287 run metres (567 Highlanders, 720 Blues), ten linebreaks (4-6), 23 offloads (12-11) – and in the end a nailbiting finish with the home team edging it 41-34.

It’s Sevens Rugby played with 15-men.

The skill level, speed and accuracy – unbelievable.

After watching northern hemisphere “rugby” for the last few months it was as if someone had picked up the remote and hit fast forward.

But both teams did all this without sacrificing any of the cornerstones of the match.

The Blues and Highlanders were strong at the set piece – one lost lineout to the Blues the only blemish.

As All Blacks coach Steve Hansen constantly repeats, all the flick passes, cross field kicks and outrageous sidesteps would mean nothing without the forward platform up front.

New Zealand teams never forget that.

That is the solid foundation on which the razzle dazzle is built.

Of course the difference can’t all be blamed on the north.

The weather plays a big part.

It’s much easier to hurl a long pass on a warm afternoon in Sydney than on a freezing Friday night in Swansea.

The firmness of the ground also makes a difference.

The sureness under foot allows the players to sidestep or swerve with a lot more confidence and also allows them to spring off a fraction of a second quicker.

That fraction of a section can make all the difference between getting through a gap and the gap closing.

In the northern hemisphere a player may choose just to truck it up, not because they don’t have the skill level to try anything else, but because due to the conditions they can’t risk an error.

Down south where there is a lot more confidence players will try that pass or chance their arm even close to their own tryline.

The other key point is the structures are right in New Zealand – both in coaching and contracting.

The big stars for the Highlanders were not the much vaunted All Blacks, Ben Smith was practically unnoticeable until the last ten minutes, but lesser known names like Tei Walden and Rob Thompson, both who scored two tries.

The pattern of play is so clear and the style of play so inherent that it’s easy to take one moving piece out and replace it with other.

New Zealand rugby is so strong overall, that they will function at the same high level.

Of course it’s not all rosey down south.

The Highlanders-Blues thrill fest was followed by the haphazard Queensland Reds versus Melbourne Rebels which was a stodgy as any match the north could ever come up with. Benetton v Zebre maybe?

It was hard to watch.

Error after penalty after wrong option – there was more handling mistakes in the first three minutes than there were in the entire Blues-Highlanders match.

There was even absurd refereeing decisions with Scott Higginbotham red-carded for an innocuous tackle while Lukhan Tui only sent to the sin-bin after driving Will Genia into the AAMI Stadium turf.

But when the rugby is so poor often the refereeing becomes the focus.

It just shows that although the gulf between New Zealand rugby and the best from the north won’t be closing any time soon, the gap between NZ and its nearest neighbour Australia is even greater.

If Wallabies coach Michael Cheika watched both matches back to back – as he no doubt did – he has an even clearer idea of the monumental task in front of him.