Last’s week’s column contended that core skills in the southern hemisphere’s Super Rugby were higher than in domestic competitions in the northern hemisphere. The negative comments on this included the claim that the observation was lazy and asked where the evidence was for the claim.

Although what constitutes entertaining rugby is subjective, the scrutiny of individual and unit skills is not. A cursory comparison of the rugby played over the last two weekends could not lead anyone with even superficial knowledge of rugby to question the point. This is not to say that some of the games in the northern hemisphere domestic competition are not exciting. Nor does it mean that on many occasions the players do not exhibit the highest quality skills.