Steve Hepburn

The Scotland team will not be blaming the stadium should it fail to fire in its match in Dunedin in this year's World Cup.

The Highlanders want the fans back, and have laid out the welcome mat, cutting ticket prices by nearly half with a special deal for Otago ratepayers.

Highlanders general manager Roger Clark says it is not up to him to decide whether the financial blow-out at Rugby Southland gives a bad look to his new employer.

His immediate playing prospects are cloudy but Andy Boyens is proving he may already have a future on the sideline.

The Otago Sparks head to Invercargill this weekend for a round of games against Northern Districts with their finals prospects hanging by a thread.

Getting and staying on the paddock is the big goal for Nasi Manu this season.

The Highlanders returned to business yesterday and it seems none of them over-indulged at the Christmas table.

It was a weekend to forget for the Otago Sparks as they fell to Wellington in two games in the capital.

It seemed like a much simpler time. There were no iPods, internet or the E! channel. In Dunedin in the early 1990s, rugby was king and Marc Ellis was part of the show. Steve Hepburn catches up with Ellis to discuss what it meant to play for Otago.

Marc Ellis played in one World Cup and wants to be part of the event this year, but has real concerns over whether New Zealand is going the right way about the event.

Michael Bracewell emphatically answered the call set by the Otago selectors and has won a place in the Otago one-day side to play Wellington on Sunday.

Otago's Alanah Davidson braves the conditions during Otago's match against Canterbury at the national under-19 softball championships at Ellis Park yesterday.

Organisers of the Queenstown Sevens want to hold on to the event for at least another two years, and say it is only huge financial support from many sponsors that makes the tournament feasible.

The Otago Sparks could not quite mark Sarah Tsukigawa's 100th one-day game for the province with a win against Auckland yesterday.

Otago Rugby Football Union chairman Wayne Graham says the Otago union is working "bloody hard" on its finances but believes the business model around the provincial game is badly flawed.