Photos: Super 14 kicks offKEY POINTS:
It was a real pity that conditions were so wet in Christchurch on Friday night as it made it a bit difficult to get a good reading on how the new rules are going to impact.
If it hadn't been so wet I think we would have seen
both teams score a few more tries. As it was, the game definitely looked faster and the ball seemed to be in play for longer.
My biggest concern in the early stages was that front-rowers were going to have to pretty quickly find something else to be good at other than scrummaging or they were going to become redundant.
But towards the end of the game the Crusaders opted to scrum rather than take free kicks and we saw that it is still going to be hugely important to have set-piece ascendancy.
With the opposition having to defend five metres back from the scrum there is more space for backs to exploit and if teams can keep the scrum square and steady, we will see more tries, I'm sure.
My impressions are that New Zealand teams will relish the new rules. Our teams have always put emphasis on forwards being able to run, tackle and get about the field. Mobility has always been a big part of the picture here and we will see that underlined even more as the competition advances.
Some of the South African props might struggle a wee bit with the pace. You think of guys in the past like Os du Randt, Richard Bands and Ollie le Roux - they have all been very big men, strong scrummagers but not really designed to pitch in with much more.
On Friday night I noticed Ben Franks making a lot of tackles and carrying the ball while both Ali Williams and Brad Thorn got around and made their presence felt.
I only caught a glimpse, but from what I saw both the Force and Sharks were looking to maul the ball a lot, which makes sense. If teams aren't careful, they could find themselves run off their feet with free kicks being awarded instead of penalties and keeping it in tight is a valid strategy for some teams.
What we are also likely to see more of in the next few weeks is increased kicking down the tramlines because teams can no longer take the ball back into their 22 and put it out on the full.
That's going to put a lot of pressure on defences to get back in support and hopefully we will see a lot more counter attacking now when teams field high kicks outside their 22.
It is obviously early days and it will take teams three or four weeks to get used to the new rules but once things settle down, I believe the game will be more entertaining and easier to watch and understand.