Well round one is in the can, and what an interesting one it was.

I just checked how I went at picking the results for this weekend in our RugbyComp. Man I sucked!

If you missed picking in round one don't worry, you aren't far behind me on the points table!

Out of the 5 first division matches I only managed to pick the winner in the Auckland vs Southland and Waikato vs Counties games, and even then I couldn't get the margin right!

You have to love Northland and BOP getting away wins in the first round though, esp. BOP beating the title holders Wellington (who were admittedly under strength but still should have been more than good enough), welcome to Division 1 Bay of Plenty!

Of the NPC action I saw over the weekend I thought:

Waikato looked great, although Counties competed well for the first half at least. Roger Randell is just so good to watch in open play, man that guy can run!

Wellington looked ordinary, and so disorganised on attack (reminded me of another team who played in Black this weekend), and in contrast BOP looked really good. Glen Jackson is going to have a great season with those boys, he really looked classy running the BOP backline.

North Harbour should have had the talent to beat a severly depleted Otago, but from all accounts Otago defended really well and took their chances, good on them. That win could be a big one in the final scheme of things.

Auckland showed they were too strong for Southland, but they certainly let them hang around for the first half. Supposedly Carlos had a good game, he better watch it, he doesn't want to waste his good performances against the lesser teams in the comp!

I didn't see any of the Northland vs Taranaki game, but it sounds like it was a thriller. Those Northland Taniwhas certainly have a lot of heart, good on them. Taranaki will be smarting though, as a semi-finalist last year they will have been counting on winning their home matches against the lesser teams in the comp (of which Northland is one) if they are to have a chance at repeating their playoff run.

Overall an interesting start to the competition, and some welcome distraction from the horror of Saturday afternoon.

Next week the competition starts for real, with Canterbury playing their first match!