early days....

 You are so absolutely right about that!!!!!The only real contenders are the highlanders and chiefs.The rest are bog ordinary.I am loving every minute of it.

 Agree poooooie its early days and things could well change a lot. No time to be crowing yet really. 

Very long comp decided more by those with depth ,and I am sure that many Fantasy footy players have noticed a huge number of penalties and errors in all the players stats .

Early days, I think South Africa had a good weekend this time around, although I was recently bemoaning the poor backline passing skills.
Crusaders are looking like the worst Christchuch outfit ever but still won. Still they are a team that usually gets better as the tournament progresses. They also have a very good forward pack- the best in the New Zealand. The half backs are looking very poor and Crotty seems pretty average in play making ability. It would be better to move the current 15 back to flyhalf and have Fagg at 15.I think it is time for Black Adder to get the boot.

Hurricanes also need a new coach. 
Blues were solid against the Bulls which is one of the hardest places for touring teams and could still go on to up more momentum. 
Chiefs have many of their best forwards injured so they are going to get much better.
Not sure about the highlanders.

Sharkbok: I pretty much agree with your assessment of the NZ conf. On the Highlanders they look much better so far. They will be about middle of the S15 results table at least.
Stormers need a new coach; Bulls looked good this weekend; Lions middle of the pack team at best; Cheetahs still finding themselves, prob  middle of the results table team; Sharks will challenge for the top of s15,

 ...Highlanders and Blues look stronger than last year for NZ ...Aussies looking stronger than last year...Lions looking stronger than last years Kings...

 

...all in all a much closer competition than previous years which is what you want...

 

...but everyone know's the strongest team is from NZ...yessiree...i said they were the greatest even before i knew they were....who can beat the Mighty Chiefs...??

Wait until most of the teams have played teams from the other conferences to be able to tell, that's why I haven't predicted the Sharks to win the comp this year. I'm waiting for them to verse a decent team like the Chiefs and Waratahs.