There is one unbeaten opponent in sport. A winner who will always prevail.
Father time. Time stops for no one. It is unrelenting. What happened 20 years ago would never occur these days.
As the seventh edition of the World Cup gets under way, sports editor Steve Hepburn walks down memory lane and looks at what has changed since 1987 when the All Blacks won the first tournament.
It seems hard to believe now but spectators stood on the terrace and watched the first World Cup final for just over $20.
Even adjusting for inflation 28 years later, that is still under $50. Compared to prices this time around, it was like giving them away.
For the final at Twickenham this year you would not get much change out of $3000. Just for one seat. That works out at about $37.50 a minute. When they reckon the average game has about 35 minutes of action then that is a lot of money, in anyone's language.
But everywhere change has occurred. From team jerseys to the law book to the number of coaches, it is all a lot different from when the first World Cup began.
About the only thing that has not changed is the shape of the ball and the number of people on the paddock.
But sport just reflects society and society is always changing. Technology has driven many of the changes.
But why are tickets just so much more expensive? University of Otago sports historian Prof Douglas Booth said sport had become corporatised.
''It used to be about national identity, whereas now it is sold as entertainment,'' he said.
''As far as the IRB is concerned, and other national organisations, it is about getting maximum return from these events so they can maintain sporting bureaucracies.
''It is about going to the corporate box and networking with your peers ... it's more about the corporate world than what is happening out on the field.''
He said it had been a slow process to get to where we are now but the catalyst was the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 1984, the first big event which was really commercialised.
''For many, that was a real turning point. Other sports saw the potential. It took time to grow. Attitudes changed, new actors come into the field.''
He said games were simply no longer sold as games. They were events.
''You used to have a test at Carisbrook and you would rely on the rugby crowd turning up. But now to fill Forsyth Barr Stadium you can attract people from all over. Argentinians, people from the northern hemisphere, South Africa.
Booth's view is not universal and others see the game as just evolving as society changes.
With games becoming events a whole new marketing industry grew. Players became personalities.
Law changes made the game more attractive. More running, less kicking. More speed, less grinding play. Tries are worth more.
Foul play is frowned upon so much more because it is seen as a bad image. Marketers cannot have that.
Improved technology has undoubtedly had a massive impact on the game. Science has made players much stronger and faster. It is more attractive to watch with better surfaces to play on.
Look back to the 1987 final and players were a different shape. Props were rounder. Locks were leaner and halfbacks were indeed small.
All Black second five-eighth Warwick Taylor was back teaching the Monday following the final on Saturday.
''That is just what you did. We never really had a proper celebration after the final. They had their big do, with all the guests and that. We went to a couple of pubs and that was that,'' he said.
''I remember Brian Lochore saying you guys won't realise what you have done until much later.''
Taylor said it was only in 2011, when the team got together, that the side celebrated the win 24 years before.
Taylor said players these days were much bigger and stronger but had more time to train.
Things may change both on and off the pitch but the desire to win remains the same.
When that changes, and there is no contest, then we will really know sanity has left the building.