Steve Hepburn

Ben Smith made probably the wisest investment of his rugby career on Saturday night.

Wellington inside back Michael Hobbs and Canterbury winger James Paterson will be two new faces in the Highlanders next year.

The Ranfurly Shield is finally heading south of the Waitaki River - the only problem for Otago fans is it is bypassing Dunedin.

Southland Rugby head Roger Clark said yesterday the union had been through plenty of tough times and was now reaping all the hard work, and that one of the paths to success was picking home-grown players.

David Latta appears the logical choice as the new Otago coach but there may be other people considered for the job.

Too few wins and too many disappointments. Rugby writer Steve Hepburn looks back on Otago's poor 2009 season.

Most coaching candidates for the Otago job appear to be keeping their cards close to their chest, but David Latta has put his hand up.

A new triathlon academy - the first of its kind - is to be set up in Dunedin to try to bridge the gap between promising triathlete and elite performer.

It is a sobering thought. Perhaps sobering is not the right word; terrifying, more like, for Otago supporters.

This 80 minutes summed up Otago's season.

Otago skipper Alando Soakai says there is frustration over his first season in charge and admits the captaincy has affected his own game.

Good things come to those who wait.

Six months ago, Glen Horton was working on his dad's farm in Taihape and did not even know where and when he would get back on a rugby field.

Otago has rearranged its backline and made a couple of changes in the forward pack for its final game of the season against Counties-Manukau at Carisbrook tomorrow.

These three could never be accused of being bandwagon jumpers - not when one of them first went to Carisbrook in 1946.

Ross Laidlaw has just been handed one of the biggest jobs in southern rugby. But the new Highlanders chairman tells rugby writer Steve Hepburn he would not have taken the job on if it had not been a challenge.

Ross Laidlaw has been named as the new Highlanders chairman.