KEY POINTS:
I have had rowing as much as rugby on my mind this week but at least Twizel, home to this year's national rowing champs, provided an interesting backdrop for a night of rugby watching.
The local pub had plenty of Highlanders support but as much as they were
surprised at how well their team was competing, they were equally astonished by how poorly the Hurricanes were going, as the home side made mistake after mistake.
I have no idea what Ma'a Nonu did to get himself dropped after one week but he was obviously the difference-maker when he came on in the second half. Conrad Smith was returning from injury but you have to question the wisdom of leaving them on the bench, especially when you had leadership missing in the pack with Rodney So'oialo suspended.
You can't replace experience and that showed when Nonu and Smith were finally allowed to start directing the Hurricanes backline. With those two pulling the strings in midfield the Hurricanes suddenly found space where there was none before.
The Highlanders were quite impressive and you have to guess they will be lobbying Sanzar to make Super 14 rugby a 75-minute game.
The loss of Steven Setephano was a blow for them. He had been their best player and his replacement, Tim Boys, found himself in no-man's land when he came on, contributing to a turnover with the Highlanders on attack and the scores tied.
Next minute the ball was down the other end and Smith had scored.
Rugby's a cruel sport.
The second match wasn't much kinder. Being a rowing champs, there were plenty of Waikato folk in the bar.
I can tell you this with some certainty: when things go wrong Waikato fans start pointing the finger. They start pointing the finger at the coaching and at the selection. There is no doubt the Chiefs have the personnel - they fronted up pretty well against the Crusaders in round one - but for whatever reason they seem unable to get the best out of themselves.
It is almost unbelievable that they couldn't put away a side which was disintegrating in front of their eyes. The Waratahs had fallen to pieces but the Chiefs could not finish them off.
There has to be a real worry about the tight five after that set-piece display.
I was prepared to give Ben May the benefit of the doubt after the match against the Crusaders. He and Wyatt Crockett are tall men and former team-mates so there was an extra edge there and it was no surprise the scrum went down from time to time.
But after Friday night's match May and Arizona Taumololo demonstrated they do not have the experience yet to manage themselves through games at this level.
They haven't learned the art of playing with "controlled fury".
And learning is something the Hurricanes and Chiefs might want to do plenty of this week.
