The first full round of the 2014 edition of Vodacom Super Rugby produced a weekend of absorbing rugby that once again proved the old adage that in this competition the unexpected should almost be expected.

And as invariably is the case, there have already been casualties among the favoured teams, with multiple winners the Crusaders, the Blues and Vodacom Bulls already on the back foot, as are last year’s beaten finalists the Brumbies and the 2012 log winners, the DHL Stormers.

The Crusaders and Brumbies both suffered defeats to good teams, but they were results that wouldn’t have been anticipated if you look at historical precedent. The Crusaders have only lost twice in home games to the Chiefs, and only once in Christchurch, and the Brumbies have tended to be better than the Reds in Canberra.

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In both games, as with the Blues’ defeat to the Highlanders in an away game in Dunedin, it was defence that got the winners home. The Chiefs proved their championship status by hanging in against Crusaders in a game that could easily have seen the hosts 10 to 15 points up had they slotted their kicks. In all the Crusaders missed seven kickable penalties, and that contributed to their inability to break through the Chiefs’ defensive system.

Ticking the scoreboard over and forcing the opposition to play catch-up is one way of breaking open an opposing defensive system. The Crusaders misses, spread between Tyler Bleyendaal and replacement Tom Marshall, helped the Chiefs, who had skipper Aaron Cruden in much better kicking form, stand firm in face of what at some stages of the game was a ferocious onslaught from Crusaders.

There was an uncanny similarity between the Christchurch game and the one played the next day in Canberra in that both were in the balance, with the home side attacking strongly for the winning score, in the dying minutes only for the visitors to profit from a late mistake that enabled them to score a try that denied the losers a bonus point.

The match in Johannesburg between the Lions and the DHL Stormers was never in the balance, and it was that fact that made the result so shocking. The Lions always had a chance of downing the Stormers in their first Super Rugby match back at Ellis Park, and most predictions would have been for a close result either way.

As the Stormers had never lost to the Lions in this competition, the safer option seemed to be to tip the Stormers to score a narrow win over a Lions side that was expected to grow an arm and a leg in what was such a big occasion fixture for them. The Lions did grow that extra arm and a leg, and played out of their skin, but what was surprising was the lack of response from the Stormers.

Not many Stormers fans would have disagreed afterwards with skipper Jean de Villiers’ contention that the team was “pathetic” on the night. While it is true that the Stormers were disadvantaged by starting the new season a week after their opponents, that cannot possibly explain how poor they were. Not even their usually immaculate defensive game was accurate, with the Lions’ early try coming as the result of a massive hole that was punched through what looked like a disorganised system.

The Stormers were smashed in the breakdowns in the opening quarter and it contributed to the large deficit they found themselves facing, with the Lions drawing away to 13-0 after as many minutes. Of course the Lions did play well, and De Villiers was right afterwards to give them credit.

Indeed, it might not be inaccurate to suggest that the Lions produced the performance of the weekend, with the Ellis Park game also being the best that we have seen on South African soil so far this season.

Although Marnitz Boshoff was right named man of the match for his goal-kicking, there is a pace to the Lions play that is impressive, and certainly neutrals who watched the match would have enjoyed it more than the one at Growthpoint Kings Park earlier in the day, or for that matter the one in Bloemfontein the previous night.

The latter match saw the Cheetahs stand up impressively from their defeat to the same Lions team on the opening weekend, and although the Bulls were better than they were in Durban the week before, they are in rare trouble for this early in the season. After two matches, they have just the bonus point picked up for losing by less than six to show for their efforts and at this stage it seems their miserable form in last year’s Currie Cup is being carried into Super Rugby.

Apart from the Chiefs, the teams ranked among the favourites to win the competition that did what they were expected to do this weekend were the Waratahs and the Sharks. The Waratahs won by a big score in the Sunday game against Western Force, while the Sharks were more comfortable winners on the scoreboard against the Hurricanes than they were on the field.

Until an intercept try 16 minutes from time by Lwazi Mvovo, the Sharks were making heavy weather of beating the Hurricanes, who were put on the backfoot from the opening minutes because of the Sharks dominance in the set pieces. The Sharks had enough superiority in the scrums in particular to suggest they would be out of sight by halftime, but they weren’t.

Instead the Hurricanes hung in to go to the break just four points down. The Sharks’ field kicking was abysmal and they were fortunate on a few occasions that the Hurricanes never punished them for it.

But in the end the win satisfied coach Jake White, who has presided over two home wins to start the season. There is some work to do though before the Lions visit in a fortnight from now.