New Zealand's second-tier players have given the Super Rugby sides a real boost and are playing some fantastic rugby.
This is interesting in the aftermath of the Rugby World Cup. South Africa and Australia appear to be just going about their business but not to the same level the New Zealand teams are, and there is a reason for that.
There is a real sense that there are All Blacks vacancies up for grabs this year and a lot of those second-tier players throughout the country have decided this is their opportunity to make their bid.
Australia, by comparison, doesn't have the equivalent second-tier players, their depth is not as strong. What is reflected in New Zealand is the intense competition for places.
Some quality players are stepping up. If you look at the Highlanders, flankers Dan Pryor and Elliot Dixon and the wing Matt Faddes, who only got his chance when Richard Buckman was injured, have been a revelation for them.
And when you have Aaron Smith contributing the way he is from halfback, he has put a gap between himself and all the other halfbacks in the country. He is playing some fantastic rugby at the moment. He's leading that Highlanders team around the field.
Go through the Chiefs and look at James Lowe, Damian McKenzie and Charlie Ngatai. If you had said earlier that these guys were going to be the form backs of Super Rugby people would have been querying your judgment. But they have been a revelation and I think Lowe, who was talked about last year in the same regard as Nehe Milner-Skudder and Waisake Naholo, has an eye on the vacant spot backing up Julian Savea that is there and he is playing some great rugby.
He's got some acceleration, some strength and he's scoring some tries and he looks really good.
For me, the sight of Aaron Cruden, who is coming back himself after missing the Rugby World Cup due to injury, was sufficient to say that he is getting back to the Aaron Cruden we all know. He made a statement on Saturday night against the Brumbies and is clearly hungry for that black jersey. And he looked every bit the maestro.
His confidence is there, his braveness, and it was good to see him step up and take control of that game.
Ryan Crotty had the pressure put on him from Charlie Ngatai a week earlier and he responded with a hat-trick for the Crusaders against the Lions. He is a solid player; he's class.
It is going to be interesting how Steve Hansen looks at second five-eighths as Ma'a Nonu reinvented how the position should be played. Previously, it would have been the centre who was the blockbuster, who would take on the tackle and blast his way through, and you would play off that. But Nonu brought it in closer so it may not be in that mould this year.
Steve Hansen is going to have to look at the game he wants to play and who best suits that No.12 jersey, whether it is a kicking 12, a bullocking ball-runner or an off-loader. There are certainly some good candidates putting their hands up to say: "have a look at me".
The Crusaders are oozing character and confidence and anyone of these three New Zealand teams could be there or thereabouts at the end of the season.
I know the ladder says something different about who's top and all the rest of it, but in my mind the Highlanders, Chiefs and Crusaders are the front-runners with the style of rugby, and the way they are playing. And at the moment I think only the Highlanders or Crusaders can stop the Chiefs.
In next talking about the Blues, you would have to ask what is all the hang up in the media about the pronunciation of the Jaguares' name. The English translation is Jaguars, surely that is what it should be without all the performance that has been going on.
The Blues may not be contributing too many contenders for All Blacks consideration but they showed, at times, what they can do.
Rene Ranger over the ball is better than any flanker in the game -- he's a great stealer. His off-load to Ihaia West was something really special, and it was telling reward for West who has copped a lot of flak.
Things haven't always gone his way at the Blues, but he is a class player and that is starting to shine through.
It was great to see Piers Francis add something a little bit different in the Blues approach. I've always thought there are too many carriers in the Blues and they lacked an unselfish player, the glue that binds everything together, that creates opportunity and he offers that.
Francis might not be the one to break a tackle, but he'll draw the man and give it to someone who will. That unselfish play is probably something that has been missing in the Blues since Lee Stensness and Carlos Spencer a couple of decades ago. If they can discover what the Highlanders, Chiefs and Crusaders know then there is hope.