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Frame the market now for the All Black fullback and Ben Smith would be out in front.

Watching the latest Super Rugby round offered a graph stretching from exhilarating to turgid. The problem was they were successive matches.

First Daniel Carter, now Richie McCaw - the Crusaders are going to have to claw their way back into Super Rugby without either of their star players featuring much before June.

Mils Muliaina's return to Super rugby has been derailed with the former All Black fullback needing surgery on his left elbow.

A punter's guide would suggest caution about the Blues.

Sonny Bill Williams' decision to return to rugby is intriguing.

Much-loved Auckland and Manu Samoa rugby identity Peter Fatialofa died yesterday, aged 54. Wynne Gray, of The New Zealand Herald, recalls the gentle giant.

Teams around the globe are envious of the All Blacks' five-eighths riches - Carter, Cruden, Barrett, Taylor, Slade and a stack queuing up in the Super 15 and ITM Cup ranks.

The All Black messages from the magnificent Dunedin Stadium would have thundered into the living rooms of the Northern Hemisphere.

Two scars disfigured last year's All Black chart.

Time fuels the mystique about legendary rugby tests but the All Blacks' latest victory against the Springboks will be hard to budge from the Hall of Fame.

Rejection came for Piri Weepu and Victor Vito yesterday as two of the great All Black enigmas slipped off the national radar.

This year's first All Blacks-Pumas clash is being hailed as a poster game for the global scrum trials.

The rugby factory is still churning out the five eighths in Canterbury.

All Black scrum coach Mike Cron believes many of the persistent problems will improve if match officials concentrate on the tighthead props.

A brief encounter with Duane Vermeulen suggests a rugby player with a real sense of perspective.

Utility back Tom Taylor has been picked to guide the All Black backline on debut, just over 30 years since his father, Warwick, was first picked for test duties.

Remember the anxiety about who would wear the black No 6 jersey in tests. The consternation was ascending.

The uncertainty has been replaced. On everyone's part.