The naming of John Mitchell's All Black World Cup squad on Monday has been the focus for much conversation and debate during the week.
Gone are the household names that have been the cornerstone of the last two World Cup campaigns.
Andrew Mehrtens, Jonah Lomu, Anton Oliver, Norm Maxwell, Tom Willis, Simon Maling and Scott Robertson were all missing when the side was announced.
Former Southland hooker Corey Flynn was the only new cap in the 30-man squad.
Ben Blair was named along with two other fullbacks - Malili Muliaina and Leon MacDonald.
Caleb Ralph retained his spot, despite a lack of public support.
The biggest surprise of the squad was the naming of an extra openside flanker instead of a fourth specialist lock.
Daniel Braid joins Marty Holah and Richard McCaw as the specialist opensides, while just Ali Williams, Brad Thorn and Chris Jack will carry the workload in the lock department.
The other major talking point in sport this week has been a somewhat negative impact of fighting in sport.
Following last Sunday's brawl between the Broncos and the Warriors at Ericsson Stadium, anyone and everyone has had their two cents on whether fighting in sport is a bad thing or just part of the game.
Just when things began to settle down, North Harbour and Southland produced a brawl equally as bad in the NPC on Saturday night.
The US Open took centre stage of world sport as the crowds flocked to Flushing Meadows for the year's final major.
The week started on a sad note as one of the all-time greats of the game, Pete Sampras, officially announced his reitrement from the sport he has dominated over the past decade.
His arch rival Andre Agassi continues to defy his age, progressing through the early rounds untroubled.
The top seed looks set to battle out the title with two faces of the new ear in men's tennis - Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt.
Perhaps one of the highlights of this year's US Open has been the reporting of Anna Kournikova, who missed the Open through injury and is roaming around courtside conducting television interviews.
The World Athletics Championships being held in Paris was a success-free zone for New Zealand.
Beatrice Faumuina impressed in the early stages of the women's shot put but finished last in the final.
New Zealand feared much better the Rowing World Champs in Milan, Italy.
Georgina and Caroline Evers-Swindell swept to gold for the second successive year in the women's double sculls.
