The Blues' hopes of making the playoffs were on a knife edge before last night's defeat to the Sharks. Now they have been filleted and sliced and diced for good measure by the men from Durban who look increasingly like championship material.

Jewels have been hard to locate this season with the Blues. Captain Luke Braid and sidekick loosie Jerome Kaino have glittered and there has been more of a shine about Ma Nonu's play.

Some felt Tim Nanai-Williams could have spent his bye week with the All Blacks. He felt like hitting the gym.

These last two weeks for the Blues have been a bit like watching the Titanic sink.

Watch a replay of our live blog of the Blues taking on the Sharks in Super Rugby action from Albany Stadium.

Aaron Cruden is still a likely starter in the All Blacks' series against England despite being named on the bench in his return for the Chiefs.

All Black coach Steve Hansen has put the form struggles of Blues' loose forward Steven Luatua down to poor fitness.

The Blues, in desperate need of competition points to keep their slim chance of a play-off place alive, will probably be wishing for a venue change on Friday.

As the twists and turns in the New Zealand Super Rugby conference continue, the best players have been forced to put aside their differences for an All Black training camp.

After a four-year hiatus, the familiar scarlet jersey of the New Zealand Barbarians returns for two relatively high-profile games next month.

Rugby was being ruined and the Reds were robbed, skipper James Horwill ranted after his side caved in once more.

John Kirwan is advocating the return of transfer fees so Auckland and the Blues do not continue to be castigated for losing players they may have helped develop.

If Hurricanes coach Mark Hammett watched the Crusaders go down to a short-handed Sharks side, he may have cracked a wry smile as the final whistle blew.

Todd Blackadder was at a loss over how the Crusaders failed to beat the Sharks in Christchurch.

After two and a half years of hard work at the Chiefs, Aaron Cruden has made the most of the down time his broken thumb has presented.

Jason Woodward kicked a last-minute penalty after Queensland replacement Ed O'Donoghue was sent off for eye gouging to give the Melbourne Rebels a first Super Rugby win over the Reds with a 30-27 victory in Brisbane on Saturday.

The Stormers ran out of steam towards the end but did enough earlier on to run out convincing 24-8 victors over the Western Force in a Super Rugby clash at Newlands.