Let's be honest, the Highlanders were ruined at the end of last season by a bunch of selfish b*stards leaving all at the end of the same season. Led chiefly by "player-power, coach-basher" Anton Oliver. He really should've moved on earlier, but he instead wanted to push to go to the '07 World Cup where he was one of the senior players pointed out in a recent review as deciding to "worry more about the semi-final". If half of those self-serving "me-first" losers had buggered off earlier we would've had a more ready squad this year.
Anyhow rant over. The Highlanders should stay in the competition. They have one re-building year and it's suggested they're out? What about the Chiefs of a few years ago? They've finished last amongst the NZ teams more often than any other! Bottom line is, NO NZ TEAM SHOULD GO!
The Highlanders were brilliant tonight and the Crusaders were average. If they'd played like that they'd have beaten half the teams in the comp, but the other half would've taught them a big lesson. The Highlanders outplayed their position on the table and instead played like they'd were in 6th or something.
Well done boys and now my support goes to the Hurricanes and Crusaders for finals games.