The Waratahs - or make that big Will Skelton - fired World Cup warning shots across the bows of the Crusaders in Sydney.

The Crusaders' Super Rugby season has been a disappointment - a team with seven losses doesn't deserve to be in the playoffs.

It's time for some glass-half-full chat as the Blues fiasco rumbles on with no apparent solution.

"Magic" Johnson is back. It's taken nearly half the season but it feels as if the Warriors will finally get the best out of Shaun Johnson.

Steve Tew has a difficult job keeping NZ's best rugby talent on these shores, but the double standards are obvious, writes Patrick McKendry.

Chris Rattue takes aim at a few surprising things from the week's sport, from Ryan Hoffman's concussion to Lydia Ko's stagnation.

Woah. There has been howling in the hallways of Sanzar this week at the "basic standards that have simply not been upheld over this past weekend" by match officials.

There are New Zealand coaches with excellent credentials who could take over the Blues.

New Zealand Football has changed the structure and composition of its national league five times over the past two decades.

John Kirwan has delivered a tactical masterstroke by saying he could deliver master technician Wayne Smith to the Blues, writes Wynne Gray.

You have to feel some sympathy for Konrad Hurrell. He's on the sidelines for the next three weeks - and partly because of a stupid tackle by Anthony Tupou.

It seems John Kirwan is pulling a lot of strings about his future instead of the chief executive and board, writes Wynne Gray.

Oh what a lovely circus, writes Chris Rattue. The Blues can barely win on the field, and now they are losing their cool with the media off it.

Those involved with the Blues coaching review have to insist it's not a done deal that Sir John Kirwan is staying on with Tabai Matson coming as his assistant.

Can someone please tell Colin Slade to tear up that overseas contract and stay a while?

Kiwis like to think we're more progressive thinkers than our louder, brasher Australian neighbours.

Reappointing John Kirwan is as unwise as rebuilding Eden Park for the last World Cup.

Let's plot a magic few weeks for the Warriors and look at why they have such a promising road ahead, writes Chris Rattue.

Kirwan has the backing of his players, accepted his faults, and promised to improve. That's enough, it seems, writes Patrick McKendry.

Royal rugby espionage! You can't be too careful with Prince Harry taking in tonight's Super rugby match in Wellington, warns Wynne Gray.

Richie McCaw: retire now in order to give yourself the best possible chance of living life to the full, pleads Chris Rattue.

In a nation obsessed with the self-obsession of the major leagues, rugby is a renegade, an underground world of amateur players who love the game for its spirit, writes Scotty Stevenson.

There's menace coming from the Reds but any influence from Brad Thorn will not be felt until next season.

With less than a month until the start of the Fifa Under-20 World Cup, it's time for Kiwi sports fans to get excited.

Selecting a fullback this week is taking on the sort of difficulty the selectors had picking a five-eighths during the last World Cup, writes Wynne Gray.

There's a pile of speculation and rumour, much of it likely to be wide of the mark, before anything more comes of the Essel move, writes David Leggat.

Further alarm bells are ringing for Super Rugby next year as Argentina enlarge their ideas even more, warns Wynne Gray.

If it wasn't a World Cup year, it would be time to consider a captaincy change, writes Chris Rattue - and it still might be if McCaw can't turn his form around.

Judge me after three years, Blues coach Sir John Kirwan suggested. That verdict is straightforward, writes Wynne Gray.