The Highlanders won their first ever Super Rugby title after beating the Hurricanes in an epic encounter in Wellington.

The Hurricanes are the only New Zealand side who have never won Super Rugby and that wait will extend another season.

The Highlanders have won their first ever Super Rugby title after beating the Hurricanes in an epic encounter in Wellington tonight.

Conrad Smith, 33, will leave for France after the World Cup with something missing on his impressive rugby resume.

One team will win a Super Rugby title for the first time tonight. Wynne Gray takes us for a trip down memory lane ahead of the monumental clash.

If they were a film cast, they would be more like Entourage than a George Clooney-Brad Pitt feature.

He is a staunch Hurricanes supporter so why won't the former Campbell Live presenter be in the stands? Chris Rattue finds out.

The Highlanders are focused heading into Saturday's Super Rugby final in Wellington. Video / Southern Stringers

A contingent of more than 500 Highlanders supporters will march into Westpac Stadium on Saturday night as part of the ''Landers Army''. A social media page set up to organise the ''army'' indicated the number could grow, with about 1400 signed up by noon yesterday. Source: Otago Daily Times/Youtube

More tickets to the super rugby final have gone on sale this morning from a pop-up Ticketek store outside Te Papa in Wellington. Two thousand tickets were made available from 8am for punters lining up - and some have been there since six o'clock last night. Each fan could purchase a maximum of two tickets. Fans cheered and clapped for Hurricanes hooker and All Black Dane Coles when he arrived.

The Super Rugby final features some crucial match-ups and key battles.

We've got the two best teams going head to head and you wouldn't put your house on the winner, writes Justin Marshall.

The grapes were very sour in Sydney as the Highlanders hillbilly forwards soaked up all the hometown posturing - then rattled to the winning post, writes Wynne Gray.

From playing rugby with an old plastic bottle to pulling on the black jersey, Waisake Naholo's path to the top has not been straightforward.

Where will the match turn, what can we look for to see who's getting some traction? Wynne Gray provides the analysis.

The Highlanders are one win away from playing in their second Super Rugby final, with only the Waratahs standing between Jamie Joseph's side and the final.

Liam Coltman is not getting ahead of himself. The Waratahs - and their big, bristling forwards - await, but the Highlanders hooker and his team are staying calm.

The Highlanders need to be shown a bit more respect, their former coach Greg Cooper believes.

Aaron Smith is the one of the most vital players in All Black rugby today. And he is in the form of his life.

Considering the Chiefs lost five from five against the Kiwi sides still alive in the Super Rugby playoffs, no arguments can be made of an unjust exit.

The brilliance of the Highlanders' attack poses questions about whether it can be repeated at All Black level, writes Wynne Gray.

There were 16 long years between home playoff games for the Highlanders - but this one was well worth the wait.

Catch everything that happened in the big Super Rugby quarter-final between the Highlanders and the Chiefs.