We're halfway through the Super Rugby season – so what have we learned so far?

In the immortal words on Jon Bon Jovi: Whoa, we’re halfway there. Jamie Wall recaps what we’ve learned from the first half of the 2017 Super Rugby season.

We’ve just crept over the halfway mark in the Super Rugby regular season – in terms of games played, at least. You might not have noticed because, in terms of actual weeks to go, we’re still not even close, since most of the competition will down tools for the month of June and watch the various test series like the rest of us.

So what have we learned so far?

Maybe the Brisbane Tens were a good form indicator after all: Contrary to Scotty Stevenson’s presumptions, it turns out the Brisbane Tens actually did offer a pretty good barometer of what was going to happen in Super Rugby (up to now, at least). The Chiefs (Tens champions), Crusaders (Tens finalists) and Hurricanes (Tens semifinalists) have all been the frontrunners in the big slog so far. Although to be fair that maybe be more coincidental than anything else.

South Africa is bouncing back: Good news for long-suffering South African fans, they don’t just have to rely on the Lions and their Sevens team for any degree of success. The Stormers have gone from horribly boring to brilliantly entertaining, going so far as to winning one of the games of the season so far against the Chiefs. The Sharks, despite being dragged down to the Rebels’ level last week, are fashioning a decent record together too.

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The Blues are an off-season soap opera waiting to happen: So much talent, so few wins. The unavoidable fact is that one team has to finish at the bottom of the New Zealand Conference, and right now it’s looking like it’ll be the same team as last year and the year before. BIt’s still pretty hard for fans of the three-time champions, who were promised big things over summer with the signing of Sonny Bill Williams, the excitement of the Ioane brothers and a new halfback in Gus Pulu. While the latter has been awesome, SBW has unfortunately been out injured for most of the comp, and only 50% of the Ioanes (Rieko) looks interested in playing.

The Jags are better than last season: Well, they couldn’t have been much worse. Los Jaguares are proving to have a fearsome home ground advantage against their South African opponents this time around, mainly because just getting there involves a long, boring plane trip over the South Atlantic ocean. Losing a few of their big name Pumas seems to have actually solidified the intent of the guys left over.

Australian rugby is in a diabolical state: If you missed it on Friday night, the 2014 Super Rugby champion Waratahs lost to the Kings. Badly. At home. This is a pretty telling sign for a team with the likes of Michael Hooper, Bernard Foley and Israel Folau in it – all key parts of the Wallabies. The other key parts can be found in the Brumbies, who looked quite good against the Hurricanes… until they gave up 42 unanswered points. Meanwhile, the Rebels, Reds and Force have all been about as bad as everyone predicted.

The Barrett brothers are taking the piss: Beaudy and Jordie’s habit of freestyling their way through games has been highly effective, with cross-kick passes to each other and other teammates becoming something you can set your watch to. At this rate Jordie is more or less replicating Damian McKenzie’s human highlight reel 2016 season, and will be a shoe-in to join his brothers in a black jersey. So there’s something fun British & Irish Lions fans can look forward to.

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