The All Black skipper has shown on numerous occasions that he can return to top flight rugby after a long lay-off and play miraculously good rugby, writes Gregor Paul.

If Adam Hill gets trampled at the bottom of a ruck tomorrow night it will probably seem like a tickle compared to his former exploits as a bull rider.

Coaching inbreeding has turned the champs into comparative chumps, writes Chris Rattue. "That backline is about as exciting and instinctive as a North Korean political rally."

A lot of mental preparation and less focus on the physical stuff was Blues coach Sir John Kirwan's summary of how his team would tackle this week.

The main message coming out of the Brumbies camp over flanker David Pocock's knee injury.

There was a time when Western Force captain Matt Hodgson thought he would never get the chance to play a single game of Super Rugby.

The words "McCaw" and "thumb" might be two of the most searched among New Zealand rugby fans this week.

Richie McCaw needs surgery to insert a screw into his broken left thumb which could have All Blacks coach Steve Hansen looking nervously at the calendar.

It's early days and there are still flaws in their game, most notably their lineout which was put under severe pressure by the Crusaders.

Chiefs coach Dave Rennie accurately summed up his side's performance in their unconvincing win over the Highlanders on Saturday night.

If you're a fan of the Blues, you have every right to feel encouraged by what you saw on Friday night, writes Justin Marshall.

Barely half an hour into Super Rugby 2014 and the Chiefs managed to establish themselves as potential champions with a single play.

First Daniel Carter, now Richie McCaw - the Crusaders are going to have to claw their way back into Super Rugby without either of their star players featuring much before June.

The Crusaders haven't had the start they wanted but I wouldn't be too worried about their longer term prospects. Not yet, anyway, writes Richard Loe.

In any match the Hurricanes offer a chance of victory through counter-attack from scraps of possession, writes Wynne Gray.

The Hurricanes will have to travel home from their two-match tour to South Africa without a win after the Stormers stole a 19-18 victory this morning.

Outrageously young, supremely talented and yet virtually unknown, Tevita Li took a giant step towards stardom last night, writes Gregor Paul.

This rollercoaster of a victory over the old enemy has eased the pressure on the Blues - and will also cause a fair bit of soul-searching in Christchurch.

Join us here for live coverage of the Super Rugby match-up between the Blues and the Crusaders from Eden Park in Auckland.

There are two things you can be sure of in life: a lame album from Cliff Richard at Christmas, and a lame start to the Super Rugby season from the Crusaders.

No team ever lost the Super Rugby title in the first week. But one could be about to lose it in the second.

Justin Marshall explains what the Crusaders are trying to achieve with their vertical stacking formation on attack and why it's not working.

Being dropped from a team due to lack of form is like a slap in the face, so one can only imagine what it must feel like for an All Black to be demoted at his Super Rugby franchise.