Any players disappointed to not hear their name called at yesterday's All Blacks announcement will now have a firm rooting interest in the Super Rugby semifinals.

The Hurricanes will host the ACT Brumbies in their Super Rugby semifinal in Wellington on Saturday night after the Brumbies upset the Stormers.

In today's short-attention-span, reality TV world, results are everything and it cannot be denied Kirwan did not bring them in.

The New Zealand under-20s, Blues, Tana Umaga and All Blacks, in a curious way, are all inter-connected.

There were 16 long years between home playoff games for the Highlanders - but this one was well worth the wait.

Catch everything that happened in the big Super Rugby quarter-final between the Highlanders and the Chiefs.

First-five Otere Black has slotted 13 from 14, striking the ball nicely, while Mitch Hunt, who should be named at fullback, has 10 from 13.

Governance, recruitment, even the name must all be part of total effort to turn the team’s fortunes around.

Travelling south to tackle the Highlanders in Dunedin tonight is hardly how Dave Rennie drew up the Chiefs' playoff plans.

Patrick McKendry writes: A new coach at the Blues, then, but will that bring about significant change?

After three tumultuous years coaching the Blues, Sir John Kirwan resigned today. We chart his successes and his failures.

John Kirwan has described Tana Umaga as a "fantastic" candidate for his former head coach's role at the Blues.

Blues coach describes decision to step down as a "big moment" in his life: "I love this club [but] I think it's time for someone else to take over the reins."

Gregor Paul and Patrick McKendry pick the crucial players in the six playoffs teams.

In 2010, the Highlanders were effectively broke and a place in the playoffs appeared a million miles away. Now they are getting ready to host their first playoff game in 16 years.

A well-rested Sam Cane should send a shudder down the spine of any Highlander who attacks the line this Saturday night.

Another year older and a lot wiser, the Highlanders plan to put the painful lessons learned in their qualifier defeat 12 months ago to good use against the Chiefs on Saturday.

If Neil Sedaka thought breaking up was hard to do, he should have given making up a go. Breaking up is the easy part in professional rugby.

They normally boast three of the nation's best but the Chiefs' biggest game of the season may just feature a rookie No9.

The seventh ranked Stormers must survive their sudden-death playoff without warrior-captain Duane Vermeulen.

Only six Super Rugby teams can take part in the playoffs and for some of the teams who missed out, the end of the season will have come as a relief.