Rugby: Hurricanes-Highlanders final predicted at $251-1

If the possibility of an all-Kiwi Super Rugby final was posed in the pre-season, few fans would have raised their eyebrows.

Ask the identity of the teams involved, though, and an erroneous consensus would have emerged.

It would be the Chiefs and the Crusaders, of course, the final New Zealand teams left standing in each of the last three seasons.

But the Hurricanes and the Highlanders? The only two New Zealand sides yet to lift the Super Rugby trophy?

Not bloody likely.

While the prospect of one of the star-crossed franchises reaching the final was hardly fanciful - the Hurricanes possessed one of the competition's most talented squads and the Highlanders reached the post-season the previous year - the odds of both making the showpiece were extreme.

In fact, according to the TAB, a Hurricanes-Highlanders final was paying $251 before a ball was kicked this campaign.

Yet here they are, set to do battle at Westpac Stadium in the fifth all-Kiwi final in 20 years of Super Rugby.

So when either Conrad Smith or Ben Smith holds aloft the trophy, will it portend a shift in power in New Zealand rugby or is midnight about to strike for these fairytale franchises?

For the Hurricanes, at least, the answer lies somewhere in the middle. This year is certainly their best chance to seize the trophy, having bossed the competition from start to finish with the best attack, a rock-solid defence and a forward pack never found wanting.

Most of those elements will remain in Wellington next year but there will be a 179-test-cap sized hole to fill in the heart of their backline, with Smith and Ma'a Nonu both leaving for offshore deals.

And another wrinkle could come in the form of the Rio Olympics, with Beauden Barrett and Julian Savea both options to make a temporary switch to sevens.

Still, a young core, guided by first-year coach Chris Boyd, would indicate the Hurricanes won't be made to wait another nine years for their next appearance in the final, with only Nonu a survivor from the 2006 defeat to the Crusaders in the Christchurch fog.

The Highlanders, meanwhile, have endured an even longer drought between trips to the tournament climax, with their solitary appearance coming in a 1999 defeat to the Crusaders.

That loss was part of a string of four playoff berths in five seasons, and all the evidence suggests the Highlanders are now in the middle of a similar streak at the head of the field.

With this year's efforts capping a steady rise that began with Jamie Joseph's appointment in 2011 - a rise rudely interrupted by the aberration of 2013 - the Highlanders appear to have a solid base on the park and plenty of smarts outside the lines.

The southern side will also be returning all five of their All Blacks, with co-captain Nasi Manu the only senior player set for an exit, a loss that will be felt but one unlikely to rock their unheralded pack.Whether it's the Hurricanes or the Highlanders who break their title duck, expect a close encounter.

Before the Hurricanes' 36-point win in Napier - a match that fell on the day Jerry Collins was killed - the previous 13 meetings between the teams were decided by seven or fewer points.