The Chiefs' Stephen Donald gets hold of the Lions' Wandile Mjekevu in a rare example of tackle in their recent Ellis Park clash © Getty Images

The Chiefs' mind-blowing 72-65 victory over the Lions in Johannesburg last weekend sparked an intriguing debate with pundits in the northern and southern hemispheres giving the issues raised as much air as the sides gave to the ball at Ellis Park.

For those who somehow managed to miss news of the clash that was the highlight, or lowlight depending on your opinion, of the second round of this year's Super 14 here is a brief synopsis - 137 points, 18 tries and zero tackles - ok, I lied about the last bit but it would not surprise me if the defence coaches committed hara-kiri this week - such was the shameful lack of defensive patterns.

With a grand total of 137 points the teams comfortably beat the previous record of 118, set in Natal's 75-43 win over the Highlanders back in 1997. The 18 tries scored was also a record, surpassing the 14 touchdowns in the Crusaders' 96-19 victory over the Waratahs in 2002.

In total Round 2 of the southern hemisphere's premier domestic competition saw an incredible 52 tries, a record for the second round but not an all-time record although my calculator gave up on me when trying to verify those reports.

In contrast the latest round of Guinness Premiership served up just 15 tries - in six games - with a 9-0 win for Wasps against Saracens and a 12-12 draw between Newcastle and London Irish singled out for scorn by some.

The critics, and the supporters of Super Rugby, point to the directives handed down to referees by SANZAR on the eve of the new season. Thankfully, these were not law changes (remember the ELVs mess?) but a bid to get tough - at the breakdown, at scrum time and with the kick and chase - with strict application of the laws in the hope of bringing the x-factor back to the competition after its reputation took a hammering in 2009.

But it seems to have been forgotten that round one of this year's Super 14 failed to hit the heights that followed a week later. Official statistics showed that penalty kicks produced 153 points in the opening clashes of the season compared to 45 points at the same time last year. There were also 30 tries scored that weekend compared to 44 in the opening round last season. It's still early days in the competition and judgement is probably best reserved for at least a few weeks until all the teams have come to terms with the new parameters they are working within.

No one wants to see dour low-scoring, penalty dominated matches blighted by piles of bodies killing the ball at the breakdown - although my Scrum colleague and Wasps flanker Tom Rees insists the Adams Park clash was far from that - but at the same time there is no real value in the kind of light-weight fodder like the Lions-Chiefs game where the absence of defence was probably more telling than any clampdown in terms of officiating. What we need is a game that falls someway between the two where the contest at the breakdown remains an integral part of the game but where quick ball becomes the norm rather than the exception - possible? Let's hope so.

The game in the southern hemisphere is reportedly suffering due to the quality of the product being served up and having been thwarted in their attempts to push through the game-changing ELVs, you can understand their attempts to shake things up especially with swathes of empty seats clearly evident at the early Super 14 matches. But if it results in a starkly different game to that played in the north we, and particularly the International Rugby Board, have a real problem. The IRB should be taking the lead here, not SANZAR, but you sense the latter grew tired and frustrated at the lack of progress made at the top table.

As England boss Martin Johnson urged this week, the IRB should be ensuring that refereeing is standardised around the world. Perhaps Johnson fears the worst this weekend when South African referees Jonathan Kaplan and Mark Lawrence will enter the Six Nations fray at the Millennium Stadium and Twickenham, fresh from their latest Super 14 commitments. Reports suggest they have been urged to adopt the same approach to officiating as they have done in recent weeks which will have got Johnson and his rivals jumping - that's for sure.

To be fair, it is too early to draw conclusions between the two and let's hope we find some middle ground before the hemisphere's go head-to-head later this year.