KEY POINTS:
Blues wing Doug Howlett and Crusaders fullback Leon MacDonald are on the brink of reaching significant Super 14 rugby milestones.
Howlett will contest his 100th match at Super level when the Blues host the Cheetahs in Auckland on Friday night.
MacDonald will play his 99th match against Western Force the next day and is due to reach three figures the following weekend against the Highlanders in Dunedin.
Only six New Zealanders have played 100 or more Super games since the three-nation tournament started in 1996 -- the Crusaders quartet of trio Justin Marshall, Caleb Ralph, Greg Somerville and Reuben Thorne, Highlanders hooker Anton Oliver and Hurricanes midfield back Tana Umaga.
Howlett, 28, has played for three franchises, beginning with the Highlanders in 1997 before shifting briefly to the Hurricanes in 1998 ahead of the Blues the next season.
"It's been an amazing 10 years. I've been extremely fortunate to be able to continue playing in this great competition all that time and I've really enjoyed it -- and I still am," Howlett said.
"While it may be my 100th game this weekend, I will prepare for it just like any other. Even though it's 100 games for me, the opposition won't care if it's my first or my last."
Howlett last weekend scored his record 58th Super try to overtake the mark set by Australian Joe Roff.
MacDonald, 29, also debuted in 1997 and since then has missed just two of the Crusaders' Super 14 campaigns. In 1998 he was drafted to the Chiefs, where he played five matches, and in 2004 he sent a year playing in Japan.
- NZPA
