KEY POINTS:
It's hard to argue with Auckland coach Pat Lam when he says spectators who turn up at Eden Park this season will get value for money. Occasionally baffling, frequently brilliant and always entertaining - that's Auckland.
Waikato made a solid start, scored a couple of neat tries and
three times managed to forge a lead. But they never really looked like winning.
The worrying thing for those who favour an even competition is that Waikato could well be Auckland's nearest contenders - and at the moment they're not even close.
Conceivably, it will be seven weeks before Auckland face another test of their prowess, when they travel to Canterbury in the final week of the round robin.
Given that just 13,559 turned up to watch an excellent match against a traditionally large drawcard opponent on a fine Saturday evening, the question is: will anyone still be watching by then, when the World Cup is in full swing?
With only Taranaki, Tasman and Otago still to visit Eden Park, Auckland may well have already played in front of their biggest home crowd of the regular season.
Auckland's season looks destined to be one of a brilliant team playing eye-catching rugby against moderate opposition in three-quarters empty stadiums. It's a shame, really, as there's so much to like about them.
Two players in particular typify their approach to the game. Twice against Waikato, prop John Afoa positioned himself on the flank and tore off down the touchline with the ball in hand, the wind streaking through his hair as he thrilled to discover what life on the open plains was like for an outside back.
Pity for Afoa, then, that Sione Lauaki seemed to object to the prop's devil-may-care approach. Quite what Lauaki was doing lurking 40m behind the play is anybody's guess - the unkind would suggest it had more to do with a lack of conditioning than any tactical gambit - but there was no doubting his intention as he lined up the flying Afoa.
Lam was bang on: the resulting collision of 239kg of flesh meeting head-on was worth the price of admission alone.
Not since Sir Ian McKellen in Lord of the Rings has anyone issued such a convincing "You shall not pass". Shame, then, that the rest of Lauaki's game didn't measure up.
The other free-est of spirits in a team chock full of them is Brad Mika. The 122kg monster is clearly a first five-eighths trapped in a lock's body. Time and again Mika will drift into the first-five channel and see what he can create with a back-handed flick or an outrageous dummy. In any other team this would be unacceptable. At Auckland, Isa Nacewa is worried about losing his job.
"I'm sure he used to play there back in school," laughs Nacewa.
"He's setting up guys out there and putting the odd kick in, so I'll always be wary. He always likes stepping in at first five, he gives me the nudge at training."
Elsewhere in round three, the highlight had to be Tana Umaga's carefully stage-managed exit from Wellington after appearance 100 for the Lions.
Whether Ofisa Tonu'u was wheeled in to conduct the post-career interview due to fears Umaga might try to flee and would therefore need sitting on is unclear. It is, however, easier to explain Umaga's reaction when Tonu'u asked him how he felt.
"Right now I feel nothing," Umaga said.
Chances are he was still in shock at having forged such an utterly brilliant career.
There was no hint of what was to come when Umaga first caught the eye as a giant teenager terrorising defences for Wainuiomata in Wellington league. Umaga was capable of brilliance but tended to need five minutes with his hands on his knees sucking in air to recover from even the slightest exertion.
His first tilt at professionalism at Newcastle Knights didn't promise much either, when he ran home to Wainuiomata citing homesickness.
It wasn't until older brother Mike convinced him to try his hand at union with Petone that Tana finally found his feet. He hired a personal trainer, cracked the Wellington team inside a season and the rest is history.
Tana endured a low point when he was accused by the Lions PR machine of intentionally nobbling Brian O'Driscoll in 2005. But that overblown sideshow has done little to dim the reputation of one of the modern greats.
If he has now got around to feeling something about his achievements, it should simply be pride.
