Counties-Manukau piled more misery on an increasing despondent North Harbour with a 40-32 national provincial championship win at Pukekohe on Wednesday.
Leopards coach Leon Boshoff has made a number of changes as his team look to upset the Sharks in their Currie Cup encounter in Durban on Friday.
Ben Cairns is in Edinburgh's team to play Sale Sharks after missing out on selection for Scotland's final Rugby World Cup warm-up Test.
Wallaby playmaker Matt Giteau looks set to be a controversial omission from Australia's World Cup squad in a bazaar fall from grace for the 92-Test backline ace.
Scotland head coach Andy Robinson is looking for his forwards to lay the foundation for victory in Saturday's EMC Test against Italy.
Donncha O'Callaghan admits the manner of Ireland's exit from the 2007 World Cup has given him greater drive ahead of this year's tournament.
Ryan Jones will equal a Wales international rugby record when he leads his country in Saturday's World Cup warm-up clash against Argentina.
Veteran fly-half Matt Giteau has hinted he has been overlooked for Australia's World Cup squad in a message on his Twitter page.
Scotland coach Andy Robinson urged his players to force their way into the World Cup reckoning after making 14 changes to his team to face Italy at Murrayfield on Saturday.
Western Province wasted no time in calling up Springboks Juan de Jongh and Gio Aplon for their Currie Cup crunch match with the Golden Lions on Friday, after the two were released from national team duty.
The Queens College 1st XV delivered their worst performance of the season when they struggled to beat a gutsy Cambridge High School in Queenstown this past weekend. The hosts were terrible, to say the least, and did not deserve to win this match as they looked rusty, uninterested and outplayed. The visiting team from East London, on the other hand, were very entertaining and delivered what is likely to be their finest performance in two seasons. The men from Queenstown won 25-20.
Argentina coach Santiago Phelan selected his strongest line-up for the World Cup warm-up match with Wales in Cardiff on Saturday.
New Zealand fans have overwhelmingly rejected a campaign urging them to give up sex as a way of supporting the All Blacks during this year's World Cup.
Craig Joubert replaces Jonathan Kaplan in Dublin though the news is good that Kaplan's rehab if good enough to have him running again and in a positive frame of mind. In all four of the World Cup referees are in action this weekend - Joubert, George Clancy, Dave Pearson and Romain Poite.
The Glendale Women Raptors have a new head coach for the Division 2 team. Angie Cranmore has been coaching the West U23 team for nearly seven years. Cranmore’s first position coaching club side rugby has begun with training the D2 Raptor Women for the 2011 Fall Season.
