Rugby: Mealamu's curtain call will lift the gloom

Keven Mealamu: "I've been blessed to have been able to play in Super Rugby for 15 years." Photo / Getty Images

Veteran hooker's last game for the Blues will be his 175th match in Super Rugby.

Keven Mealamu's final appearance for the Blues in their match against the Highlanders at Eden Park tomorrow will lend a celebratory air to what has been a depressing season for the franchise and Auckland rugby.

Charles Piutau's rapid return from a knee injury is also significant - he is effectively back two weeks early from an injury expected to keep him out of the game for two months - but it is the old warrior Mealamu who will get most of the attention.

Mealamu, 36, deserves the plaudits before, during, and after what will be his 175th Super Rugby match, with coach John Kirwan making him captain despite the presence on the reserves bench of James Parsons, who will celebrate his 50th cap. Parsons was given the role following the injuries this season to Jerome Kaino and Steven Luatua.

With only three victories and no coach confirmed for next year, the Blues are on track for their worst season in history - hardly the send-off that Mealamu, who will almost certainly retire from all rugby at the end of the year, deserves.

It is the looking back on a brilliant career which is likely to bring the most smiles to the faces of Blues' supporters tomorrow night.

"I've been blessed to have been able to play in Super Rugby for 15 years, and this is certainly not the end of my rugby quite yet. I will make a final decision on that at the end of the year," said Mealamu, who, fitness permitting, will celebrate his All Blacks swansong at the World Cup.

"In some ways it will be emotional to share my final Super Rugby game on Friday with my teammates, my friends and especially my family.

"This has been a tough season for the Blues but we can go out on a good note knowing we have performed to our best.

"We have some players leaving as well and we have James who is reaching an important milestone, so we owe it to them and to ourselves to be the best we can be both individually and collectively on Friday."

Mealamu created history in his first game this season - the loss to the Lions at North Harbour - when overtaking Super Rugby's previously most capped individual, Australian Nathan Sharpe, who played 162 matches.

Loose forward Brendon O'Connor, prop Angus Ta'avao and fullback Piutau will also be playing their final games for the Blues before taking up overseas contracts, although Piutau has vowed to return.

Parsons said he was honoured to pass on the captaincy to Mealamu.

"He is a great man and a great player," Parsons said. "He has set the benchmark on and off the field and I have learned so much from him."