Less than a week after the protocol for the 35th America's Cup was announced, the sniping between syndicates has already descended into childish bickering, writes Dana Johannsen.

It was, to put it mildly, a surprise to see Malakai Fekitoa enter the fray at Eden Park with 20 minutes to go.

All the carping about England's style is boring, writes Wynne Gray. Let them play the game how they want. They had their plans for the opening test at Eden Park and for much of the match they put the All Blacks under enormous pressure.

With so many players missing for England that starred in the Six Nations it is difficult to give an accurate assessment of the approach they will take, writes Justin Marshall.

It went against everything we know about concussion but many of us hoped Kieran Read's comeback for the Crusaders at the weekend was a sign his head troubles were over.

The All Blacks 2014-style are the nearest thing to a shambles when compared to the glories of last year, writes Chris Rattue.

The re-emergence of Victor Vito and the absence of Steven Luatua is an indication that the search for a world-class back-up to Kieran Read is on.

If, as expected, the All Blacks pick only Keven Mealamu and Dane Coles in their squad to play England today, I'd fully support that. writes Richard Loe.

There's a "Tongan Thor" running around fellow schoolboys into the media's glare and a mad scramble for his signature, writes Chris Rattue.

Steve Hansen will be keen to see some of his players - particularly his front row - step up in the next few weeks, writes Richard Loe. If you look at what might be the starting All Black pack for the first test, you would say there's a lot of class.

The eruption of match-fixing allegations, many involving former NZ players, has begun to eclipse a triumphant summer for the national team, writes Andrew Alderson.

The trust is gone, perhaps for a generation. Forget for a minute the allegations against Chris Cairns, writes Dylan Cleaver.

Vincent is not a whistleblower, nor a saviour. He has only come out singing, to the ICC anti-corruption unit, when trapped, writes Chris Rattue.

Just two matches involving New Zealand teams during the weekend and on both occasions the favourites lost.

At the risk of being disrespectful to those who have announced their plans to set sail for pastures new, NZ rugby is not in the middle of a damaging player exodus, writes Gregor Paul.

The NRL are guilty of failing to reinforce the rules they introduced to clamp down on the lifting tackle, writes Hugh McGahan.

Believing rugby will gain some serious momentum in the US seems a decent leap of faith even though they have competed at nearly every World Cup, writes Wynne Gray.

The Crusaders turned in easily the most impressive performance out of any of side over the weekend in their big win over the Reds.

The Blues go in for a slow but premature death, season after season, and it is happening again, writes Chris Rattue: Sir John Kirwan is shaping as a struggling coach, to be frank.

You know a sport is doing well when the promoters start bitching at each other. This week, the NZ Professional Boxing Association boss accused the handlers of Joseph Parker of being 'fools' for pushing him 'too hard, too fast', writes Paul Lewis.

There might be a few people a bit nervous about the All Black situation at hooker. I'm not one of them. I don't think we are so badly placed, writes Richard Loe.

Something has gone wrong at hooker, writes Gregor Paul. Not for love nor money does the country seem able to produce them in the required volumes.

The opportunity to build a new purpose-built ground on the waterfront leapt out as plans were revealed this week to redevelop the city, writes Wynne Gray.

I'm not entirely sure exactly at which part of the season Alex Ferguson's bum got squeaky, but there may be a few humming rumps on the New Zealand coaches this weekend as things get very real indeed for the Kiwi conference.

The first half of last weekend's Anzac test left me convinced Shaun Johnson will develop into one of the best halfbacks in the game.

There is no overstating the importance of this next match for the Blues.

No one needs to remind the Chiefs about the importance of this match.