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All Blacks skipper Richie McCaw's recovery from the injury that threatened his World Cup campaign continued today when he had surgery to remove two small screws from his right foot.

It is a measure of how far the Hurricanes have come that coach Mark Hammett pauses when asked if he would have taken the team's three-win, two-loss start before the season kicked off.

Almost a third of the way through the Super Rugby round-robin stage and the Chiefs, Highlanders and Hurricanes are enjoying the high life in the New Zealand conference.

Highlanders halfback Jimmy Cowan has said he is keen to broaden his experience of the world by playing overseas and it seems his new education could start in the west of England with the Gloucester club.

The Crusaders have played their first game in Christchurch for two years and now it's back to the departure lounge again as they consider two important games in South Africa.

After five months of injury rehabilitation, a wedding, a honeymoon and a trip to South America and the United States, he is back. Well, sort of.

On the eve of the Crusaders' first home game in Christchurch for two years, their new stadium, a bit like the city, still resembles a worksite.

Thank heavens Tony Woodcock is returning for the Blues this weekend because Pat Lam dearly needs some good news.

Hasn't Otago Rugby played a blinder!

It is hard to think of Aaron Cruden as an elder statesman given his tender years, but that is the position he is assuming among the crop of up-and-coming first-fives beginning to challenge Dan Carter.

Israel Dagg jokes that Hawke's Bay's two "favourite sons'' are returning home this weekend, but he is serious when he says he's hoping to get a start at his favoured fullback position when the Crusaders play the Chiefs in Napier on Friday.

It is perhaps appropriate that new Crusader Tom Donnelly is hoping to build on a growing reputation against his former team at a stadium sponsored by an investment company.

A big crowd, a flying Piri Weepu - going backwards - a finish of finger-chewing tension: this opening Super Rugby match between the Blues and the Crusaders had almost everything.

America's Cup rival and training partner Luna Rossa has been in Auckland for a fortnight but rather than look ahead to next year's big series of races in San Francisco, the priority for Grant Dalton is getting more speed out of Camper in the Volvo Ocean Race.

The good news is Dan Carter's injury rehabilitation is on track and he could play for the Crusaders in their first home game in March. The bad news for his long-suffering fans in Christchurch is that the first "home'' game might not even be in the South Island.