Blues rugby player George Moala has been discharged without conviction over a charge stemming from a vicious bar fight.

Troubled former All Black Zac Guildford has ended his stint with French club Clermont Auvergne.

Steven Luatua will replace Jerome Kaino as skipper of the Blues and has challenged his team to finish their final five games of the season undefeated.

Selecting a fullback this week is taking on the sort of difficulty the selectors had picking a five-eighths during the last World Cup, writes Wynne Gray.

The Hurricanes are preparing to play without All Black star pivot Beauden Barrett.

Have the Highlanders fallen off the radar? Are they that unfashionable? They started this round of Super Rugby by maintaining their push for the playoffs with a great effort, writes Wynne Gray.

Typical Blues - they double their win tally for the season by beating the Force, only to have their success tarnished by the injuries to their best players.

The good news for the Chiefs is they have a fortnight to rectify what went wrong against the Rebels before they face the biggest game of the season.

There is a noticeable contrast in styles among the Kiwi teams and the two sides doing really well are the ones playing traditional New Zealand rugby.

Publicly, the Hurricanes don't want to discuss the playoffs but as their bumper season continues to roll along, it's the burning topic of conversation outside the team.

Colin Slade or Beauden Barrett? Beauden Barrett or Colin Slade? The starting order would not matter, the All Blacks would be happy with either at first five eighths.

It's symptomatic of the Blues season that what little good news they enjoyed last night in beating the hapless Force, came with a smattering of bad.

The Blues have doubled their win tally for the season but the injuries to Jerome Kaino and Charles Piutau will worry not only John Kirwan but also Steve Hansen.

The Chiefs will be frustrated by their game which frayed at the edges with some uncharacteristic indiscretions in Melbourne.

Two groups who have been left out in the cold for too long - their team's players and supporters, Paul McKendry writes.

On the weekend of boxing's biggest fight in years, the Crusaders look weak at the knees.

Further alarm bells are ringing for Super Rugby next year as Argentina enlarge their ideas even more, warns Wynne Gray.

Brad Weber will tonight wear the Chiefs No 9 jersey for the sixth time in seven games, having seemingly emerged triumphant in a head-to-head battle with Augustine Pulu.

Another factor in the Blues' favour is the fact that their opposition from Western Australia lead the statistics table in many ways they don't want to.