It is still early days, but the predictability that hurt the competition last year has all but evaporated in 2024.
The biggest winning margin at the weekend was just 10 points, and that came in the Drua’s upset/non-upset win against the Crusaders in Lautoka.
With apologies to the 0-3 Crusaders, tournament officials could barely have designed a better start to the competition because fans of each team are now looking one week ahead at the next game with that most precious of commodities: expectation.You can’t help but wonder if Louis Lynagh would be in Australia with younger brother Tom had Australian rugby been more functional in the past year or so.
Besides, the Waratahs have shown enough – Triston Reilly has been a great pick-up – in the outside backs to have a real crack at the Aucklanders.There’s no doubt the Reds’ replacement front-rowers played a massive role in the win against the Chiefs. Jeffery Toomaga-Allen and Peni Ravai bossed the Chiefs, twice relieving pressure on the Reds with scrum dominance.