The HWBOT Country Cup is well under way with Stage 1 drawing to a close in just three day's time. As things are looking right now, it looks like France, Australia and the US are sitting pretty in the top three spaces of the contest as a whole. But just before Stage 1 draws to a close, let's take a closer look at the current state of a fiercely fought contest that stokes the emotions and heart-strings of good old national pride.

France are enjoying the top spot right now based on some pretty dominant displays in Stage 2 (XTU) with 1578.67 marks, but they will have to watch out as they have the Germans breathing down their necks just a few points behind. It looks like the XTU stage will in fact end up in the hands of one of these two teams with, only Argentina in a possible position to gain ground.

Team 'Aus' are certainly doing it for Australia, appearing in the current top four of all four stages. They are 4th in the Stage 2 (XTU), 2nd in Stage 3 (3Mark Ice Storm) and 4th place in both Stage 1 (3DMark Fire Strike Ultra) and Stage 4 (SuperPi 32M). I would not put it past those plucky Aussies to come up trumps at the end of the competition.

Then we have the 'Muricans; a US team that sits at the top of Stage 1 with a healthy score of 4185.33 marks which gives them a good margin of safety over the Germans who are heading a pack of teams hovering around 3,500 points. Interestingly the US team only register in the top three of one other stage, that being Stage 4 where they currently sit in 2nd place, sandwiched between leaders France and 3rd placed Romania.

The 1st Stage, centered around GPU benching on GTX 980, GTX 780 Ti, R9 290X cards benching 3DMark Fire Strike Ultra, will close Monday December 15. Will we see an upset at the death? With points heavily weighted at the top end of the scale, there are several teams who would fancy pushing up for the higher, more lucrative places, including current contest leaders France and a German team who have yet to really show their teeth in this contest.

Stay tuned for a grand finale weekend of HWBOT Country Cup benching.

Find out more about the HWBOT Country Cup 2014 on the COMPETITION PAGE.