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

Ticket sales have been strong for the Hurricanes with more than 17,000 already snapped up for Saturday's semifinal at Westpac Stadium.

Any players disappointed to not hear their name called at yesterday's All Blacks announcement will now have a firm rooting interest in the Super Rugby semifinals.

For a nation with a surplus of rugby talent, there are always hard-luck stories and surprise elevations after the announcement of national training squads, writes Wynne Gray.

The Hurricanes will host the ACT Brumbies in their Super Rugby semifinal in Wellington on Saturday night after the Brumbies upset the Stormers.

In today's short-attention-span, reality TV world, results are everything and it cannot be denied Kirwan did not bring them in.

The New Zealand under-20s, Blues, Tana Umaga and All Blacks, in a curious way, are all inter-connected.

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

Travelling south to tackle the Highlanders in Dunedin tonight is hardly how Dave Rennie drew up the Chiefs' playoff plans.

Patrick McKendry writes: A new coach at the Blues, then, but will that bring about significant change?

Governance, recruitment, even the name must all be part of total effort to turn the team’s fortunes around.

Tana Umaga has received a contract from the Blues as John Kirwan's replacement but has yet to sign it.

It is just another game - but then again it is not. Trying to find the blend between the two is what the Highlanders need to do tonight in Dunedin.

After three tumultuous years coaching the Blues, Sir John Kirwan resigned today. We chart his successes and his failures.

Blues coach describes decision to step down as a "big moment" in his life: "I love this club [but] I think it's time for someone else to take over the reins."

There'll be about 50,000 supporters packed into Newlands delivering all sorts of advice to Peyper and his South African assistants, writes Wynne Gray.

The player key to the Chiefs' attacking strategy will bring a couple of contradictory features tomorrow night.

Gregor Paul and Patrick McKendry pick the crucial players in the six playoffs teams.

In 2010, the Highlanders were effectively broke and a place in the playoffs appeared a million miles away. Now they are getting ready to host their first playoff game in 16 years.

A well-rested Sam Cane should send a shudder down the spine of any Highlander who attacks the line this Saturday night.

Another year older and a lot wiser, the Highlanders plan to put the painful lessons learned in their qualifier defeat 12 months ago to good use against the Chiefs on Saturday.

If Neil Sedaka thought breaking up was hard to do, he should have given making up a go. Breaking up is the easy part in professional rugby.

The seventh ranked Stormers must survive their sudden-death playoff without warrior-captain Duane Vermeulen.