Super 15: Game of the week

RETURN: Once a Cane, now a Highlander, Andrew Hore will be looking to score points at the Cake Tin.

Hurricanes v Highlanders
Wellington, tomorrow, 7.35pm
Referee: Bryce Lawrence

It almost feels amusing to name these two teams as the feature match - one is the runt of the New Zealand litter and the other was widely predicted to be on a fast-track to ignominy.

But here we are, close to a month into the tournament and the Highlanders are the only unbeaten New Zealand team and the Hurricanes are the first from any country to notch 100 points.

It's a homecoming of sorts for Andrew Hore, Tamati Ellison and Hosea Gear, all of whom will have different motivations for showing the Wellington crowd they have plenty of rugby left in them.

These two teams play a style that is easy to like - let's hope the locals recognise that and turn up en masse.

Few stadiums are as soulless as the Cake Tin when it's half full.

2. Coach under pressure: Richard Graham (Force)
They've been around since 2006 but the general consensus is the Force are getting worse.

Their capitulation against the Hurricanes was embarrassing.

These guys are killing any chance of rugby making a meaningful challenge to the primacy of Australian rules in Western Australia.

3. Stat attack
If there's been a criticism of Crusaders first five-eighths Tyler Bleyendaal's play early in his Super rugby career it's been that he is slightly too metronomic and predictable in his option-taking.

That predictability has spread to his points output as well.

After three rounds he has kicked 15 goals - three conversions and 12 penalties.

He scored one conversion and four penalties against the Blues, one conversion and four penalties against the Highlanders and, you guessed it, one conversion and four penalties against the Chiefs. Mix it up a bit, lad.

4. Mick's picks
Herald betting analyst Michael Guerin gives some investment advice.
If you told your mates a month ago your idea of a money-making venture was to back the Chiefs, Hurricanes, Highlanders and Rebels in the same weekend you might have found yourself drinking alone. But that could be the way to go for this round, even though the Highlanders and Hurricanes are playing each other. The Chiefs should beat the Brumbies, but are paying only $1.15 so look a good way to start a multi bet.

The Rebels take on the Cheetahs in Melbourne, home ground advantage making their $1.47 to win good money.

As for the Canes and the southerners? The Canes are exhausted after a three-match tour but the Highlanders struggle to gap rivals. So back them both at -12 and reap at least 50 profit on your money because they are paying $3 each for a close win.

5. Say what?
"I saw [Bjorn Basson] lying on the field, I panicked and thought he was hurt. I moved down and climbed over the barrier to see if he was all right," says Johannes Nel, the 54-year-old boilermaker who hit Keven Mealamu in the back of the head with a plastic bottle of water - a vessel he said he was trying to return to the Bulls wing.

"I picked up the bottle, called his [Basson's] name, and as he looked around, I passed him his water. This is when it hit the Blues captain."

As far as excuses go, that's right up there with Captain Francesco Schettino's "somebody pushed me and I landed in a lifeboat" effort.

6. Nice idea, but ...
Sunday arvo footy, we love it. The concept's great and the quality is markedly better that night rugby. It's also been one of those great imponderables as to why Sanzar has been so compliant in handing the NRL the Sunday afternoon slot and refusing to challenge it for the eyeball harvest on the Sabbath. So the prospect of a game of union on Sunday evening is enticing, except ... it's the freakin' Rebels versus the freakin' Cheetahs. Talk about a non-event. It's hard to be moved by two of the worst teams in the Super 15.

NRL, the floor is once more yours.