Jimmy Cowan has bucked the trend of top-flight players heading overseas and re-signed with the Highlanders, Southland Stags and New Zealand rugby until 2010.

With the Highlanders and All Black stocks set to decline with the loss of players, scrum-half Cowan, 25, will play an increasingly crucial role in the future of rugby in his homeland.  While he will seek to improve on his 10 caps so far, the All Blacks will lose another player, with winger Rico Gear the latest All Black to sign for an overseas club -  Worcester in England.

Cowan helped the Junior All Blacks to a 50-0 win over Australia A in Dunedin. The small crowd were disinterested and so was the second-string Wallabies defence as the lack of depth in Australian rugby was exposed.  The Junior All Blacks were missing key players called into the All Blacks, like locks Greg Rawlinson, Ross Filipo and wing Rico Gear.  It didn't matter as Hoani MacDonald and Tom Donnelly stepped up in the second row, leading the dominant New Zealand forwards to excel.  Stephen Donald marshalled the backline and scored a beautiful try to make this match a non-contest.

'It will be interesting to see how Carter and his All Blacks fare against the fired-up Springboks, fresh from defeating the Wallabies'

Highlanders CEO Russell Gray has jumped ship and is leaving the dwindling Highlanders and Otago Rugby Union. Gray has been a controversial character in the last four years, governing through some tough times in Otago rugby. He was involved in the Laurie Mains/player power desputes in his tenure along with an undera-chieving franchise. He joins a long list of players leaving the Highlanders including Josh Blackie, Anton Oliver, Carl Hayman, Clarke Dermody, Filipo Levi and Nick Evans. Whoever takes over will have their work cut out.

Tough new penalties for ticket scalpers and streakers will be in place at the Rugby World Cup in 2011. The bill prohibits "ambush marketing" and provides for advertising and sales "clean zones" around venues. It also states that any unauthorised entry on to a pitch can result in a jail sentence of up to three months or $5,000 fine. The bill imposes a $5,000 fine on anyone selling or trading a ticket for more than the original sale price.

Finally, the All Blacks will look to build on their performance against Canada as they take on the Springboks this weekend. Daniel Carter was named by many as the Man of the Match, but I would argue that he threw the intercept pass, missed some tackles and struggled to stamp his mark on the game until well into the second half. I am not saying he deserves to be dropped yet, but I think that shouldn't have been named star man.