Air NZ Cup Preview: Wellington v Southland
One question that dominated all else in the build-up was how well Southland could recover from the massive high of winning the Ranfurly Shield last Thursday. If the Stags can get it right this match is there for the taking but we'll probably only know about 10 minutes into the contest.
Air NZ Cup Preview: Canterbury v Hawke's Bay
Why would you pick Hawke's Bay to win this match? The Magpies have not beaten Canterbury anywhere since 1982, not in Christchurch since 1968 and they lost a cracker of a game two weeks back. But then again, Southland hadn't won the Ranfurly Shield for 50 years until last week, and that happened at Christchurch as well.
Air NZ Cup Preview - Waikato v Auckland
Until Thursday night, this was shaping up as a winner-take-all match with a playoff place the grad prize. Unless there are funny results on Friday Auckland's season is done but that won't mean Waikato gets handed a free pass to the semis.