The Highlanders had better start winning or they may become the most unsuccessful New Zealand side in the history of the Super competition.
The Highlanders slumped to their 10th loss of the season, from 11 games, when they were beaten 35-28 by the Bulls, and they have just one win - a nail-biting victory over the Sharks earlier this month - this season.
They are sitting on the bottom of the table, three points below the 14th-placed Force, which they play in Perth on Satur-day night. They have five games left to play, including the one in Perth, with just two of those games at home.
Looking back at Super rugby since it started in 1996, New Zealand sides have finished last only twice, and that was in the first two years of the competition. Those were the days when there were no byes and a simple format, where everyone played everyone once.
In 1996, the Crusaders, coached by Vance Stewart, finished bottom of the ladder, with just two wins and a draw from their 11 games.
The next year, it was the Highlanders' turn to be the cellar-dwellers, winning just three games under the coaching of Glenn Ross.
Since then, no New Zealand side has propped up the table.
Even the Blues last year, in what was seen by most as a terrible season, managed to pick up four wins and eventually finished 12th, ahead of the Lions, Force and Rebels.
The closest any New Zealand side has got to finishing last since 1997 was in 2001 and 2004.
In 2001, the Blues finished 11th, out of 12 teams, winning just four games. In 2004, the Hurricanes had the same record.
The poorest effort from a New Zealand team was arguably in 2003, when the Chiefs won just two games. But with 10 bonus points, the side managed to finish 10th.
From 2005, the Highlanders were the lowest-placed New Zealand team for six consecutive years. But they still won a respectable six games in both 2005 and 2006, under coach Greg Cooper, when the New Zealand teams were very strong.
Only twice has a Super rugby side gone through the entire season and not won a game. In 2001, the Bulls went through the season without tasting victory. And in 2010, the Lions played 13 games in the Super 14 and lost all of them.
South African sides have dominated the bottom placing over the years. The teams from the Republic have finished bottom 12 times while Australian sides have been at the bottom of the ladder three times.
