![Win over Blues Highlanders' top priority](/pf/resources/images/placeholders/placeholder_l.png?d=793)
Win over Blues Highlanders' top priority
The Highlanders are not getting ahead of themselves before playing the Blues in Auckland tomorrow night.
The Highlanders are not getting ahead of themselves before playing the Blues in Auckland tomorrow night.
The Highlanders have scotched suggestions that Brad Thorn could make a return to their injury hit side for Friday night’s clash against the Blues.
Whichever way you look at it, the Blues are limping towards one of the worst seasons in their history.
The death of Jerry Collins was keenly felt in New Zealand last night - especially in Napier where his former Hurricanes had the difficult task of playing after the news broke.
A dark day for the franchise ended on a bright note when the Hurricanes clinched top spot for the first time in Super Rugby history.
Join us at 7.30pm for a live blog of the Super Rugby clash between the Hurricanes and the Highlanders.
Highlanders wings Waisake Naholo and Patrick Osborne showed their class as they scored tries during their team's 36-9 win over the Chiefs during the weekend, but where do they rank among the competition's best tackle-busters?
Into the spotlight for the Highlanders and exit stage left.
They were handed their worst defeat of the season and held tryless for the first time in 25 games - but the Chiefs' finals fate remains firmly in their control.
With three rounds to go in Super Rugby, the Herald checks out the remaining contenders and rates their title chances.
What about them Highlanders, eh? They danced out to a handy halftime lead and unlike the previous week did not surrender that advantage against the Cheetahs.
A win-win scenario is filling the Highlanders spreadsheet this week.
Have the Highlanders fallen off the radar? Are they that unfashionable? They started this round of Super Rugby by maintaining their push for the playoffs with a great effort, writes Wynne Gray.
There is a noticeable contrast in styles among the Kiwi teams and the two sides doing really well are the ones playing traditional New Zealand rugby.
A penitent Bismarck du Plessis will return to the Sharks' front row for tomorrow's match against the Highlanders in Dunedin but will not resume the captaincy.
The Highlanders' three-match winning streak came to a brutal end at the hands of the Brumbies in Canberra last night.
In sporting circles and rugby conversation, failure has become the accepted outcome for the Blues and they stayed true to that course against the Highlanders, writes Wynne Gray.
Jimmy Cowan is going back to his roots - back to Dunedin to face the team he played for more than 100 times, a team he freely admits are much better now.
Highlanders coach Jamie Joseph is completely satisfied with the condition of prop Josh Hohneck, saying that anyone who can go pig hunting and capture a boar must be all right.
Cowan, Bekhuis and Woodcock or Naholo, Fekitoa, Aaron Smith, Ash Dixon and Dan Pryor - Wynne Gray wonders, which team got the better deal?
The Highlanders made a big pitch to keep star winger Waisake Naholo but he had all-but signed a deal to go to France before the season had even kicked off.
The Highlanders' performance in chasing down the Crusaders in Christchurch for a significant victory on Saturday should have been enough to bring the Blues back down to earth.
The Highlanders certainly showed they have playoff credentials by going to Christchurch and winning. It was a statement win, writes Justin Marshall.
At the start of the Super Rugby season, the Blues had a mish-mash of backs while the Highlanders would struggle with forwards. Combine them and they might be handy, writes Wynne Gray.