Steve Hepburn

The hunt for volunteers for next year's World Cup begins next week, with a national campaign to enlist helpers.

There is no doubt the Super 14 is a hard competition.

The Highlanders have come up with a "recovery plan" to steer the franchise into the future but their chairman is remaining tight-lipped about what it involves.

The first All Black team of the 2010 international season will be announced tomorrow. Rugby writer Steve Hepburn gets past the walking wounded and comes up with a 26-player squad to battle the Irish and then the Welsh.

The Highlanders have their 2010 season awards evening next week. It would be fair to say it will be a short affair.

Southland coaches David Henderson and Simon Culhane are keeping their cards close to their chests on whether they want to coach the Highlanders next year, while Jamie Joseph looks a long shot to move south.

The Highlanders' season has drawn to a close on the field and now the off-field investigation begins, with coach Glenn Moore saying he is keen to continue in a job about which he cares passionately.

The Highlanders are about to finish their sixth straight year as the bottom-placed New Zealand team in the Super 14. But hope is on the horizon as the New Zealand Rugby Union moves to allow franchises to directly contract players.

The southern invasion is taking shape with a sold-out train set to journey to Invercargill on the day of Otago's Ranfurly Shield challenge.

Otago prop Keith Cameron dislocated his shoulder in a game on Sunday but should be right for the representative season.

A South Island competition has been set up this year for sides below first-class level.

The Highlanders would be interested in luring Sonny Bill Williams to the franchise, but it appears to be a long shot that the former Canterbury Bulldog would venture south.

Jamie Joseph knows nothing about coaching the Highlanders next year but says like any coach he would be interested in moving up to the next level.

All Black lock Tom Donnelly will take his first tentative step back to serious rugby when he lines up for Central Otago against South Otago in a Topp Cup match in Cromwell next month.

It is the big clash of the Highlanders First XV rugby competition.