Reaction from games at the weekend in New Zealand were:
Highlanders 29 Moana Pasifika 34
Moana Pasifika coach Tana Umaga
"It puts us into the top six for now, but more than that, it is the work we've put in, everyone who has worked hard. We talked at half-time: Which team wants it the most?
"The effort that Melani Matavao put in for the charge down [that saw him score the match-winning try] epitomises how much it means to us. I'm proud of everything we've achieved.
"But, we get a week to refresh, and then we must get a strong finish. That's going to be tough for us.
"We've put ourselves in a position where we're competing to be in the top six, and we're pretty happy about it.
"The way we won today showed a lot of grit and guts. It wasn't a pretty game. But knowing that we can win like that is good for us because it does give you a belief that when you knuckle down and work together and trust everything, we're going to get results like that.
"Good teams stand up at the back end of seasons. That's why the Blues were champions last year. The Chiefs have been there before, and the Hurricanes, how they're performing at the right time is new for us. But we've got some guys who have been here before and are experienced around that.
"And knowing we have to raise our level, we can have confidence in who we are.
"It's the most games we've won in Super Rugby but we know we've got three games [against the Blues (home), Chiefs and Hurricanes (away)] to keep building on that."
Highlanders coach Jamie Joseph
"We played enough rugby to win that game, and it was tight. It came down to errors. We made more errors. It came down to our lineout under pressure from ourselves, not necessarily from the opposition; there were a lot of overthrows, so that's execution.
"And it came down to a moment where we actually won the game with two or three minutes to go. There are some hard lessons to learn.
"I'm disappointed for the team because, in these really tight matches, they've got to overcome an obstacle which is surrounded by pressure. That's the big lesson. When the pressure's coming on, we need to execute simple things. If we'd done that, we would be on the other side of the ledger.
"We were in and around the 22 area where we could apply some pressure and we took the pressure off and that's disappointing. I get frustrated with that because it's got nothing to with the opposition. It's got everything to do with ourselves."
Blues 40 Force 19
Blues coach Vern Cotter
"We made it hard for ourselves at the end but managed to come away with it [a bonus point]. The senior players stepped up and played well, and it was a good result.
"We went into our shells a bit in the second part of the first half. We couldn't exit properly and could have taken a couple more initiatives. Whenever we had the ball in the half, we made good ground, good carries, with good footwork, and we moved the ball.
"In the second half, the players lifted their effort, and we got results. We had more intensity around what we wanted to do and got results for it.
On the failure to clear the ball after the final hooter:
"I think Beaudy [first five-eighths Beauden Barrett] could have kicked it dead, and then Sam [Nock-halfback] could have taken it out, and then he passed to Angus [Ta'avao-prop], and he decided he would show his football skills which if it's off the tee was an air shot.
"But the good thing was we stayed composed and kept the five points.
"And that gives us another chance.
"Next week, we have a very important game over in Fiji, a tough place to go. There's a lot more work in front of us to become better.
"We had them under pressure, and the guys that came off the bench did a good job there, and at the lineout. They have a very good defensive lineout."
Blues captain Patrick Tuipulotu
"It was more of a defensive effort today. I didn't have many carries because we were defending a lot. We had some good connection with our defence. There's still penalties there, stupid ones about offside, where we can control those. Apart from that it was a good effort."