Super 14 at first glance

Magic Moment
Sharks halfback Ruan Pienaar's dazzling solo try. From 60m out, the son of former Springbok hero Gysie Pienaar sped between two Chiefs, stepped inside All Black No 15 Mils Muliaina and wrong-footed the covering defence.

Darkest Hour
Hands up all those sitting in front of the box at 4am yesterday? New Zealand's South African-born residents you don't count. If it had turned out to be a razzle-dazzle blood and guts cracker, we might - might - have been kicking ourselves. But it's okay. It wasn't so we aren't.

Cheap Thrills
The girls on hot tub duty at Durban and Eden Park. The Blues show was evidently a one-off, but just try and stop those South Africans. One of their franchises put on a dwarf held aloft doing pressups on a surfboard as sideline entertainment. Whatever happened to the marching bands?

Best Prepared Outfit
Crusaders, by a mile. It's as if the defending champions simply carried on where they left off last May.

Early Thoughts on ...
The competition: One round is no way to judge the overall success, but whoever set it up with a string of local derbies - or the closest you can get to local derbies in a three-nation operation - for the opening weekend should take a bow.

The teams: The Aussie quartet won't terrify anyone. The Force have plenty of work to do. The Bulls look the likeliest of the South African teams to become a handful; the Cheetahs had their moments.

The Crusaders have hit the ground running and the Hurricanes have the capacity to thrill more than any other team. So not much has changed.

Six Nations or Super 14?
What do you reckon after watching the Lions then the Grand Slam last year? If we must have footy in summer we'll take it in daylight rather than setting the alarm clock.

Stronger Referees?
They remain a Works in progress. Like the teams they turned up in round one but the series needs them to be more assertive.

Who's in for a long season?
The Force may be, but it will seem even longer for their midfielder Lachlan MacKay, who damaged a knee and is out for the series. On second thoughts he may be a very fortunate footballer ...