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.

Wellington is full to the brim with rugby fans as a rolling maul of southerners invades the capital ahead of tomorrow's Super Rugby final.

'Skinny white guy' who became a midfield master signs off for the Hurricanes tonight, writes Daniel Richardson.

Hurricanes flanker Ardie Savea is on track to play in tomorrow's Super Rugby final, with coach Chris Boyd saying "as of now, he is".

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

Wellingtonians have become understandably pessimistic, expecting the worst in order to limit their disappointment when the worst duly transpires, writes Paul Thomas.

Sympathy for the southern man is a sporting trait we find hard to shift, writes Wynne Gray.

Hurricanes coach Chris Boyd says "the emotion will take care of itself" when the Hurricanes play in their first ever home Super Rugby final.

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.

They may be great mates off the field but TJ Perenara refuses to talk to Cory Jane at training.

The provinces had become disenchanted with the Hurricanes in recent years but their first pre-season match of 2015 in Eketahuna on January 31 changed all that.

The Hurricanes head coach, Chris Boyd, talks about the upcoming match.

The Hurricanes will likely wait until Thursday to make a call on three injured players.

The lineout drive was meant to be a pet play of the Brumbies.

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

For 40 minutes, Nehe Milner-Skudder terrorised the Brumbies before he was taken out of the semifinal so as not to tempt fate with his tight hamstring.

Watch a replay of tonight's live blog of the Super Rugby semifinal between the Highlanders and the Waratahs.

Milner-Skudder joined the Hurricanes as a wider training group member last season and skipper Conrad Smith said he caught the eye of the senior players on the training paddock.

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

Captain Conrad Smith has been a part of the best and worst times at the franchise and says the building blocks were laid during the past few years.