This may be the first time that anybody actually gives two hoots about who wins the Tri-Nations rugby championship.
And, ironically, it comes during a year in which the standard of the competition has seldom been lower as New Zealand, Australia and South Africa rebuild after the 2007 World Cup and try to cope with the player drain.
The Tri-Nations has been a bit of a non-event since it started in 1996.I could not even tell you how many times the All Blacks have won it without resorting to the record books.
It's been a bit predictable and boring, almost an upmarket version of the Super competition which has preceded it.
There is little of the unabashed patriotism and fervour that is part of the Six Nations.
But it's less predictable this year, simply because all three teams are in the process of regrouping.
There are players in the All Blacks who would not be All Blacks in another year, but who have been promoted as New Zealand tries to plug some of the gaping holes left by the exodus after the World Cup.
Australia is in a similar situation, as coach Robbie Deans seeks to build a team without many of the stars of the past.
But it is South Africa which has had the most difficulty in coping after the euphoria of winning the World Cup last year.
Its hangover has been similar to that of England, post-2003, but for vastly different reasons.
It has only a solitary win - albeit the historic first victory over the All Blacks at Carisbrook - to set beside four losses and an increasingly hostile public.
It has missed the leadership partnership of coach Jake White and captain John Smit.
The new coach, Peter de Villiers, and captain, Victor Matfield, have both struggled and Matfield's own form - which made him the world's greatest lock - has dipped alarmingly.
There have been other selection problems.
The continued retention of the leaden-footed Butch James at first five-eighth is a mystery to many, in the republic and elsewhere.
Then there are the transformation issues which bubble away beneath the surface but which are always part of South African rugby at the highest level.
The Springboks can salvage some pride this weekend if they beat the Wallabies in Johannesburg, where touring teams have much more difficulty in winning than at the sea-level venues of Durban and Cape Town.
But the winner will come down to the match between the All Blacks and Australia in Brisbane on September 13 and the All Blacks, on present form, will start as favourites.
There is not the intimidation factor at Lang Park (Suncorp Stadium) that has afflicted the All Blacks at Olympic Stadium in Sydney and the All Blacks will certainly be fresh.
It has the makings, more by good luck than good management, of a genuine final.
But that is not to say that a change to constant diet - preferably a tour - would not be most welcome.
Taieri triumph: Taieri's return to the premier division of Dunedin club rugby will be widely welcomed.
It has done it the hard way and there is no reason, with the growth in the Mosgiel area, that Taieri cannot emulate the achievements of the Mervyn Jaffray-captained champion Green Island sides of the late-1970s.
It has been given its chance and it has to take it.
University B did not.
It used to be a competitive and attractive side but those days have gone, and there will be some relief its inexperienced players have bowed out with no serious injuries and only a series of scoreboard hammerings.
Medal matters: Great Britain has become serious about sport, as its gold medal tally of 19 in Beijing indicates.
The Government has poured millions of pounds into the elite sporting system and expect it to be up there with the super-powers again in London in 2012.
But what about South Africa? One solitary silver medal.
This from a country whose climate and standard of living among the whites lends itself to sporting activity as much as any country in the world.
What is going on?
