North Harbour coach Craig Dowd has rushed lock Anthony Boric back into his side for Saturday's match against Tasman.

All Blacks midfielder Richard Kahui has been ruled out of rugby for the rest of the season following shoulder surgery.

Ten All Blacks are off limits to their provinces before the end-of-year tour as the selectors begin their World Cup preparations.

It was little more than a year ago when the All Blacks' first five-eighths pecking order seemed set.

Competition for backline spots in the All Blacks end of year tour squad has just got even hotter.

Coach Mark Anscombe has made four changes to the Auckland side for their ITM Cup match against Manawatu on Friday.

The bulk of the All Blacks squad have been made available to play ITM Cup matches over the coming weeks.

Canterbury and Southland sit on top of the ITM Cup standings after six weeks of competition, both record wins in the latest round.

After spending the past few months obsessing about Sonny Bill Williams we now have some idea what all the fuss was about.

Counties Manukau are the big improvers of this year's competition, but they are going to have to find a killer blow.

Taranaki soared into third spot in the ITM Cup on the back of a solid 28-19 win over Counties Manukau.

Waikato and Hawke's Bay fought out an absorbing see-saw of a battle ending even at 27-27 in their ITM Cup match.

Bay of Plenty defied trying conditions to outgun Manawatu last night.

Sonny Bill Williams will make his first start for Canterbury after being named in the lineup to face Northland.

All Blacks centre Richard Kahui looks to have succumbed to yet another shoulder injury.

Auckland revived their faltering ITM Cup campaign by beating Taranaki 27-13 at Eden Park.